A Clean Heart

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."

Psalm 51:10

This verse is my husbands' favorite. The verse is  part of a conversation King David had with God after Nathan the prophet pointed out David's sin with Bathsheba. You can find the entire story in  2 Samuel chapter 11 and 12. There in chapter 12 of 2 Samuel is something that to me, is a mystery, but is common to all people:  It wasn't that King David did not know that the adulterous affair with Bathsheba, and the murder of her husband were sins--he knew it. The mystery to me is that somehow or other he had been able to justify what he had done in his own mind--that is until God sent Nathan to confront him with the truth in a way that he could not deny. At that time,Holy Spirit conviction struck David's heart, it was broken. There was no more justifcation for his sin. No more was he able to "make it right in his own mind." David went straight to God.

Just what was David confessing here? We know of the adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah, but there was something else here. Back up to Psalm 51:4. David admits:

"Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight:"

He was confessing that he had also sinned against a holy, sovereign God. The One who had created him and by that very act of creation had the right to rule in his life.

The sin of justifying his sinful actions at the expense of God's sovereign right to rule in his life weighed David's heart down. He had once again put himself over God. This was why he begged God to create in him a clean  heart. He did not want this heart that always put itself above God; but he understood that only God could change it. Only God could scrub it clean of all unrighteousness and make it clean again.

You and I have the same problem King David had. We need cleansing from our sin. I'm not saying we need to be saved again. David knew, and we can know as well, that salvation is a one time transaction and it last forever. It is those sins after salvation that we commit and then try to justify: the ones that break our fellowship with a holy God, and steal our joy.The human part of us says,

"It's not that bad, others have done worse" or "I'll be extra good tomarrow":  I could leave a line blank and you could fill it in with your excuses for justifying your sin. You know what they are.

But just as David learned here, we must learn that justifying sin IS a sin! 

So what can we do? We must talk to God daily, and with a godly sorrow. What is godly sorrow? When we as David (2 Samuel 12:13), realize we have sinned against God. 

We repent of that sin, ask him,as The Creator, to take our dirty heart and create us a new, clean one. That is godly sorrow. You can also find an explaination and example in 2 Corinthians 7. 

When we come in this manner, God as a loving father, in his grace and understanding is willing to create us a clean heart.

Jesus died so that you could come for that cleansing; so that you could have that clean heart and the joy of God's salvation that comes with it daily. Don't throw away such a wonderful gift: the opportunity to live everyday with a clean heart and restored fellowship with your heavenly Father. This is one of the many blessings being a child of the true and living God offers everyone who comes to the God of the Bible. No other god, or system of belief in the past or future can promise you that: but not only does the God of the Bible promise it, He delivers it! To Him be the glory. Amen