Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. (Psalm 51:10-11)
These words, along with the following verse, are some of the most heart-felt and heart wrenching in all of Scripture, at least in my view. They express the angst and regret of a man who knew the joy of living upright before God, but who was now plunged into the darkness of spiritual despair. That is why he pleaded with the Almighty not to abandon him, not to remove His Spirit, even though he had to realize that it was he who had chosen to go his own way in pursuit of temporal pleasures. In some ways, he had followed the same path as his predecessor, Saul, in that he used his authority to justify his whims.
Unlike Saul, however, David quickly acknowledged his sin before God and repented. He humbled himself before the greater King and confessed his transgression. Furthermore he realized that, even though he had experienced the Presence of the Almighty in times past, like all men, his heart was tainted with the corruption that poisons all of mankind — a sinful nature. This prompted David to pray what is, in my opinion anyway, the most sincere sinner’s prayer recorded in the Bible. It reveals David’s desire to be born again, evidenced by his petition for God to “create in me a clean heart.” And when our hearts are pure, should we not expect that our mind, along with the rest of us, will follow?
When we become a new creation in Messiah, by His grace, we are separated from our past sins in terms of bearing guilt. As it is written, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). That said, it is important to make certain that our inclination to sin is arrested so as not to allow the presence of sin to gain an opportunity in our life. To put it in David’s words, we need God to “renew a steadfast spirit within me.” In other words, there needs to be a spiritual resolve within us to continue in the way we know to be right. To do this will require more than sheer willpower; it will require inviting God to do something in us, something that only He can do. Something, I would recommend, that comes only when we, like David, desire to abide in His Presence.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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