101 Things That God Can't Do: Day 5- God can't despise a contrite heart
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Psalms 51:17
Sparks, M. (1996)
--I have been hurt and disappointed many times in my life, but more importantly I have hurt and disappointed the ones I love so much so often it's painful to even recollect. I'm not sure which is more difficult: to give an apology or to accept an apology unconditionally. It takes a lot of strength and courage to give a sincere apology, but it is often aided by the fact that deep down inside you know you are wrong.
To and accept an apology however, you must acknowledge that you have been unjustly wronged yet you must be willing to overlook that fact, lay it aside as if it were irrelevant, to truly accept the apology without anger or bitterness. We are human and therefore we are prideful. I believe pride is the root of all sin, and pride is the narrator that often makes it difficult for us to accept those who have wronged us unconditionally. Many times we accept an apology on the surface; we go through the motions and put on a good show. However, deep down in our spirit we make a mental note of the wrong that was against us. We say to ourselves that the person who wronged us will now have to earn our love again. All too often our compassion and sympathy are nowhere to be found. In the words of Metallica “Sad but True”.
God simply cannot do that. God forgives us unconditionally. He doesn't hold a grudge, he doesn't have a little checklist or a notebook keeping track of all of our mistakes and sins against him. He simply asks that we come to him with a broken spirit and a contrite heart. This is the only sacrifice that he asks for. We don't have to beg, we don't have to plead and we don't have to ask for a second chance. He is incapable of despising our sacrifice. It is as if it never happened. We can learn a great deal from this trait which God has. How much simpler our lives would be if we could forgive others like God forgives us. How much better would our relationships be if we could give second chances without thought? Second chances one have unique quality: everyone wants one unconditionally yet we rarely are willing to give one unconditionally.
There are some valuable lessons in history of people who are willing to give someone a second chance. Commander Joseph Rochefort and Admiral Chester Nimitz were both given second chances when they clearly didn't deserve them and because of those second chances (in Nimitz's case, a third chance), America won a decisive battle which changed history as we know it.
Chester Nimitz entered the US Naval Academy in 1901 and was an outstanding student, especially in mathematics. However, one day Nimitz violated a rule by purchasing beer when he noticed that a man dressed in civilian clothes was observing him. The following Monday, the man, now in uniform, was Lieutenant Commander Levi Bertolette, his instructor. Nimitz thought for sure that his naval career was over. Bertolette for some reason, maybe because he saw something in Nimitz, overlooked the clear infraction and never reported in Nimitz. Nimitz said of the incident “it taught me to look with lenient and tolerant eyes on the first offenders went in later years they appeared before me as commanding officer holding mast “. That was his first second chance.
Many people remember Adm. Chester William Nimitz is the great man who led us to victory in the Pacific war, but what many people don't realize is that he did the unthinkable with his first command a naval warship. He ran his ship aground and went to admiral's mast, almost always a career ender. Due to his stellar career and a few extenuating circumstances, he was issued a letter of reprimand but allowed to stay in the Navy.
Nimitz learned valuable lessons about second chances and forgiveness. Throughout his entire career he always emphasized to his officers to need to give individuals opportunities to redeem themselves and correct the wrongs. This would serve him in the years to come as he led the Pacific Fleet from the devastating blow at Pearl Harbor to standing on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2nd, 1945 accepting the Japanese surrender.
Nimitz lived his philosophy of second chances and forgiveness. Immediately after Pearl Harbor, Pres. Roosevelt appointed Nimitz as the Commander in Chief-Pacific. There were 28 admirals that out ranked Nimitz at the time, yet Pres. Roosevelt personally knew Nimitz and knew he was the man for the job. Immediately after Pearl Harbor the sentiment was that “heads must roll”. The surprise attack by the Japanese was a colossal failure of intelligence, preparation and military readiness. There was great pressure on Nimitz to fire everybody.
Nimitz however displayed great compassion for the officers at Pearl Harbor. When he relieved Adm. Kimmel, he shook his hand and said “My friend, it could have happened to any of us.” Here is where Nimitz’s ability to give people second chances truly paid off. The officer in charge of intelligence at Pearl Harbor was Joseph Rochefort. He certainly would have been one of the officers who should have been relieved and career ended. When he realized that he was not being relieved however, he took it upon himself to crack the Japanese code. He became obsessed with cracking that code, sometimes working 36 hours straight. He knew he had a second chance and wanted to regain himself. He and his staff were relentless, for they knew of the code could be broken United States Navy would have an upper hand in the war.
It was Commander Rochefort who broke the Japanese code in May of 1942. On May 24, 1942 Rochefort told Adm. Nimitz during a meeting that the Japanese were planning to attack Midway on June 4. Although he couldn't be absolutely certain, he was convinced that that was the Japanese plans. Adm. Nimitz had faith and confidence in Cmdr. Rochefort and took action against the advice of many.
Nimitz positioned what few ships he had remaining at Midway, caught the Japanese fleet off guard, sunk four Japanese fleet aircraft carriers and for the first time won a decisive battle against the Japanese Imperial fleet. The Battle of Midway is commonly accepted as the turning point in the Pacific war. I still remember reading the book as a child and watching the movie in the theater with this new thing called surround sound. I remember almost jumping in the air and screaming as I watched the bombs smashing into the Japanese aircraft carriers.
Consider this: An Admiral who had been given a second chance twice with two major infractions, drinking beer at the Academy and running the ship aground, gave me another man a second chance after he failed to realize Pearl Harbor was about to be attacked. These two men, were dealt with compassion and forgiveness. The decision to give these two men forgiveness and a second chance ultimately help win a world war. World War II made America a superpower which kept Communism at bay and ultimately defeated communism, which helped bring freedom to hundreds of millions of people.
Just as God cannot despise our contrite heart we should never despise or refuse forgiveness to anyone who comes to us seeking forgiveness and a chance to rebuild a broken relationship. I believe this is most difficult with the ones closest to us, the ones we love the most. If the ones we love the most wrong us, it hurts more. It's a psychology 101: the more love there is the more hurt there is. All the more reason however, to forgive and restore the relationship, just as God forgives us. God’s forgiveness for us offers us a relationship that can never dissolve and never fade. I said earlier, our God is a God of relationships, and there is no room for un-forgiveness in a relationship. If God, who is perfect, cannot despise a contrite heart, then who are we to do so? By doing so you many not save the world, but you may save a precious relationship and ultimately yourself.....
MW
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