“Abase me to self-loathing and self-abhorrence, Open in me a fount of penitential tears, Break me, then bind me up; Thus will my heart be a prepared dwelling for my God.” (1)
How many of us hate sin? Think it through before you answer. Yes, it disgusts us to see the devils footprint on this world and cry out against it every day, but do we see our own sin the same way? If we’re honest with ourselves we often find our sin as not that bad. Often it is repeated because God will forgive us until the next time and the time after that, and it continues on and on. Does our sin disgust us that we cry out against it every day?
In a devotion entitled ‘The Great God’ from the Puritan prayers and devotions, ‘The Valley of Vision’ the author writes, “Abase me to self-loathing and self-abhorrence.” He is asking to be humbled to feel intense hatred for his sins. He asks, to “Open in me a fount of penitential tears” to be able to repent authentically. But here is where the rubber meets the road, the author writes, “Break me, then bind me up.” He needs to be broken by the hand of God in order to see the true consequences of his sin knowing that God will also bind him up making him whole again.
We may flirt with sin thinking it is no big deal but a little deal. Big or little it is abhorrent and loathing to God and should be to us. If it’s not, perhaps we need to be broken. Broken to the point through penitent tears that we see our sin as vile as the evil in the world around us. Then we can say with the author, “Thus will my heart be a prepared dwelling for my God.”
(1) Bennett, Arthur The Valley of Vision. East Peoria: Versa Press, 2023. Pg. 6
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Word for the Soul 