Reviewed, edited and approved by Jeff Robb. Scripture is quoted from the King James Version.
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Key passage: Psalm 51:10-12 (KJV)
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Reflection
The heading of Psalm 51 tells us when David wrote it. It was when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. David had taken another man's wife, and then arranged for her husband Uriah to die in battle. For a while he covered it up. Then God sent Nathan, and David's sin was laid bare.
Psalm 51 is David's prayer after that. It is one of the most honest prayers in the Bible. He doesn't make excuses. He says, For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Then he prays the words of our passage. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Notice the word create. It's the same word used in Genesis 1, In the beginning God created. David knows he can't fix his own heart. He needs God to do something new, something only God can do.
Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. David had seen what happened to Saul, when the Spirit of the LORD departed from him. What David fears most isn't punishment. It's losing God's presence.
And then, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
David doesn't say, restore my salvation. He says restore the joy of it. Sin had stolen his joy. He had gone on as king, but something inside had gone silent. He wants that joy back.
Many of us know that feeling. Some sin, large or small, that we've been carrying and hiding. And while we hide it, our joy slowly drains away. Prayer feels flat. Scripture feels distant.
Psalm 51 shows the way back. Be honest with God. Don't excuse it or shrink it. Ask Him to make your heart clean. A few verses later David says, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
And the New Testament gives us this promise. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If there is something between you and God today, you don't have to carry it any longer. Bring it into the light. Ask Him to create a clean heart in you, and to restore the joy of His salvation.
Cross-references
Prayer
O God, create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. I confess my sin to You, without excuses. Do not cast me away from Your presence. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen.
For today: Bring anything you've been hiding into the open before God today, and ask Him to restore your joy.