June 17. What kind of prayer pleases God? This is the one to whom I will look,

he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66 too. The first mark

of the upright heart is that it trembles at the Word of God. Isaiah 66 deals with the problem of

some who worship in a way that pleases God and some who worship in a way that doesn't.

Verse 3 describes the wicked who bring their sacrifices. He who slaughters an ox is like one who

kills a man. Their sacrifices are an abomination to God on a par with murder. Why? In verse 4 God

explains. When I called, no one answered. When I spoke, they did not listen. Their sacrifices

were abominations to God because the people were deaf to his voice. But what about those whose

prayers God heard? God says in verse 2. This is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and

contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. I conclude from this that the first mark of the upright

whose prayers are a delight to God is that they tremble at God's word. These are the people

to whom the Lord will look. So the prayer of the upright that delights God comes from a heart

that at first feels precarious in the presence of God. It trembles at the hearing of God's word

because it feels so far from God's ideal and so vulnerable to his judgment and so helpless and

so sorry for its failings. This is just what David said in Psalm 51 17. The sacrifices of God

are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise.

The first thing that makes a prayer acceptable to God is the brokenness and humility of the one

who prays. They tremble at his word.