Isaiah 57:14-16 English Standard Version (ESV)
Comfort for the Contrite
14 And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” 15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16 For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made.”
There is within this passage the hope for survival of our heart attack. God revives the heart of the contrite. The Hebrew word for contrite is dakah and the point of reference for the meaning is contained in Psalm 10.
Psalm 10:10 English Standard Version (ESV) The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.
It is not enough to say “I am crushed.” God Himself has brought us down to save us. That is not something that people want to hear about a God who is saving you. If you could see a moment that was about to happen, like an oncoming train while you are stuck on the tracks, would you be grateful to the one who tackled you?
Most of us do not see the danger. We have our own set of circumstances surrounding our salvation. Rarely is it as serious as a heart attack but that is precisely what happens. We end up getting a heart transplant.
Ezekiel 36:26 English Standard Version (ESV) And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
They don’t tell us that at the alter call. Maybe they should.