PURE HEART
Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; You have broken me—now let me rejoice. Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from Your presence, and don’t take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You.
Psalm 51:7-12 (NLT)
Psalm 51 is a powerful and poignant piece of Scripture. Penned by King David after being confronted by the prophet Nathan for his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah, it’s a powerful lament before God. We see David ask God to create within him a clean heart. Nowadays, we hear advice like listen to your heart or always follow your heart. While well intended, to be sure, this is terrible advice. Consider what the Bible says about our hearts in Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT): “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”
No lack of clarity there. Deceitful and wicked are the terms used for our hearts. And in our most honest moments with ourselves, we know this is true. We’re naturally selfish—no one ever has to teach a baby to scream mine! when another child grabs their toy. We want what we want when we want it, which is usually right now. Left to follow the desires of our hearts, we’d likely wind up shipwrecked. But the good news is that God transforms our hearts. Consider the following from Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT): “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”
God promises to perform the ultimate heart transplant. He replaces our wicked, stubborn, deceitful heart with a new, tender, responsive heart. That’s what David was asking for in Psalm 51:10—a heart loyal to God.
APPLICATION: Heart check time—where are you at with God? You may have been following Jesus for a long time at this point. You might even be known as a person after God’s own heart, like David. But like David, you’re susceptible to slipping back into selfishness and sin. Is there anything you need to confess to God? Is there anything you should confess to a brother or sister in Christ so they can pray for you?
PRAYER: Father, You know my heart better than I do. Reveal anything in my life that is out of sync with You. Create a clean heart within me and renew a loyal spirit within me. Thank You for the forgiveness You continue to show me each day. In Jesus’ name, amen.
“… Our Father in heaven…” Matthew 6:9b (NLT)
- What do You want to say to me today as my Father?
“… may Your name be kept holy.” Matthew 6:9c (NLT)
- What do You want to reveal to me about Your power today?
“May Your Kingdom come soon.” Matthew 6:10a (NLT)
- Help me make Your priorities my priorities today.
“Give us today the food we need,” Matthew 6:11 (NLT)
- Is there anything specific You want me to do with my time or the people I’m around today?
“and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” Matthew 6:12 (NLT)
- Reveal to me anyone I need to forgive or ask for forgiveness.
“And don’t let us yield to temptation…” Matthew 6:13a (NLT)
- Is there anywhere I’m vulnerable to temptation?