Create & Renew

Psalm 51 contd:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

This verse is a song many of us know, and sing.  It’s a very commonly quoted passage of scripture.

After David’s confession of sin, he begins asking God for a pure heart and a steadfast spirit.  Again, these are markings of true repentance.  Just being sorry for something, we may ask God to cleanse away our guilt.  But wanting to change, we will ask God for his Spirit to make us steadfast and willing, to sustain us.

To continue sinning, when we experience sorrow, is not healthy or wise.  But we will continue sinning if we don’t submit to the Holy Spirit to sustain us.  We are not meant to forge through life alone.  We need his strength, daily,, to resist temptation to do evil.

Again, David asks for the restoration of joy.

There is great joy in knowing Jesus and in following him. And there is devastating sorrow when we fail and miserably sink into a sin of any kind.  That zaps our joy.

But the cool thing about the God we serve is that when we truly repent, he does not withhold his joy from us and hit us over the head the rest of our lives for what we’ve done.

He restores our joy.

That’s the beauty of the Lord, the holy God, who has the power to forgive, cleanse, sustain, and restore.