Create in me a clean heart
I remember reading an article in the New York Times a few years ago that recently resurfaced on social media entitled “the one thing Christians should stop saying.” Surprisingly, the phrase was, “I’m blessed.” The argument was that it sounds braggadocios and even arrogant when you add, “I’m blessed,” after every positive thing that happens in your life. So, every material windfall, or every good feeling, or fortuitous event gets emphasized with, “I’m blessed.” There is actually a big movement to stop using the #blessed on X. (twitter)
The argument being, what about the days that are not positive? What about the days where things don’t work out? What about the days when you don’t wake up feeling blessed, and there is no new car, the diagnosis is still there, you’re still estranged from your loved ones, and the bills keep piling up as you’re trying to financially hold it all together? Are you not blessed then? Is being blessing only contingent on things going well?
This reminds me of another word in the modern Christian vernacular that has quietly disappeared and does not get used much any longer and that word is “sinner.” I’ve noticed many avoid it, replace it (lack of judgement, I made a poor choice, not enough information, it’s the systems fault, etc.) while others simply cringe at the very mention of the word as it brings up past church experiences that have left scars and wounds.
Yet the Bible is very clear, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23) The Psalmist David would say, “In sin my mother conceived me.” Like it or not, this is our default posture before God. We can try to explain it away, excuse it or even ignore it but it’s there and it needs to be dealt with. Thankfully, Jesus has dealt with it on the cross. He became the atoning sacrifice for all our sins once and for all.
“Then if all my sins have been forgiven by Jesus, why then do I still have to confess them?” This is a common question that trips up a lot of Christians as the bible says, “confess your sins” (1 John 1:9) even as believers. How do we reconcile this?
When we sin as believers, it doesn’t cancel our salvation, but it does hinder our intimacy, fellowship, and closeness with God. When I was a kid, I would constantly disobey my father and break his commands. I remained part of the family, that was never in question, but the closeness was strained until the issue was resolved. Whenever we ignore, hide or dismiss our sins, our relationship with God will grow cold and distant.
Confession is not about re-earning God’s forgiveness, but about restoring and maintaining healthy relationship with our heavenly Father. Think of it as tending our friendship with God. Confession is a vital part of our walk with Christ that keeps us close to Him, in full humility and dependency. This is how we keep a vibrant spiritual life and walk in freedom and in grace.
Psalm 51 is one of my favorite Psalms that highlights this beautifully. In it we find one of David’s most personal prayers that expresses his deep lament and confession of his own sin. It starts off with, “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin!”
According to the title, David composed the psalm because of Nathan the prophet confronting him of his wrongdoing, both in his committing adultery with Bathsheba but also in the arranging of the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite.
I want you to notice three specific words David uses for his actions: Transgression, Iniquity and Sin. What is the difference between the three? Transgression is a strong word from which we get the word aggressive or aggression. It simply means an intentional defection from God or intentional rebellion against Him. Think of it like being presumptuous, someone knowing what is right (ignoring right) and choosing what is wrong. Iniquity is the perversion of right behavior. It relates more to the inner character and heart that intentionally twists God’s standard. It’s premediated sin. Not only do I ignore what is right, I plan to do wrong. This is the worst form of wrongdoing. The third word used is Sin, Sin is simply means missing the mark. Think of an archer who missed the mark trying to hit the bullseye. Sin is the general, catch all term for anything that “falls short of the glory of God.”
Yet David here makes a clear distinction of his wrongdoing. In essence, David says I have not just missed the mark or stumbled into something that caught me off guard. Rather, I have plotted, planned, and purposefully premeditated something that was the perversion of right behavior. I was presumptuous, intentional and I knew what I was doing.
Yet in his state, notice what David appeals to: God’s steadfast unfailing love and his abundant, compassionate mercy. He uses strong words like blot out, wash and cleanse. David is humbly pleading to God and His character and heart. In the process acknowledging his own brokenness and wickedness. He would go onto say in verse 10 of Psalm 51, “create in me a clean (pure) heart, O God, and renew a right (Steadfast) spirit within me.”
This is why I believe David is known as a man after God’s own heart. When he messed up royally, (pun intended) he came to God with deep reverence and acknowledgement of his true condition. He confesses his transgression, iniquity and sin pleading for forgiveness while seeking a fresh start, a clean slate, a faithful spirit, a renewed heart, and a new beginning. Why does he do it? Verse 11 and 12 of Psalm 51 tell us, “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
David knew that unconfessed sin, would diminish the relationship he had with God. His joy was zapped, the Spirits activity in his life was quenched and the intimacy of God’s presence was no longer there.
Do you ever feel like your relationship with God is stagnant? Do you ever feel like your joy is gone? Like the spirit is not moving in your life like he once did? Maybe you need to restore relationship with God through confession.
I want to challenge you as we make our way towards Easter to adopt the prayer of David. “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God.” The bible says the heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” There was a part of David that thirsted for God like a deer thirst for water; yet there was another part of David that had a terrible appetite for sin. (Paul describes this struggle in Romans 7) David understood this struggle all too well. And in full transparency he says, “Create in me…” This means, this doesn’t come naturally. I’m naturally a transgressor and full of iniquity and sin.
Yes, most of the time, our tendency is to frame this prayer more like “make my heart clean” or “wash my heart.” This indicates taking something soiled and attempting to get rid of any traces of dirt or messiness. But this is a different request than, create in me.
To “create” something means to start from scratch. To start again, brand new. When David was appealing to God to create in Him a new heart, I believe he was calling on God’s creative power, to literally renew his heart so that he could again enjoy the intimacy that was lost.
I believe the start of this process happens when we confess our wrongdoing: our iniquity, transgression, and sin. When we sin, we must immediately come to God, confessing our sins and seeking a renewal in our relationship with Him. Some deceive themselves by trying to minimize their sins. Others deceive themselves by trying to ignore their sins. Yet only the person who is willing to confess their sin can find cleansing and full fellowship with God.
This is why David comes along in the first 6 verses of Psalm 32 and says, Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit, there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
David’s sin seemed to choke the very life out of him. Yet he turns to God, confesses the sin, pleads for forgiveness, and seeks a fresh start and a clean slate. God being faithful, answered and renewed his heart. I love verse 6, “Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found.”
David’s prayer is answered in a promise found in Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ez. 36:26)
This fulfilled promise makes it clear for us today: The time in which the Lord is found, is now! If we seek Him, we will find Him and He will answer. How do we do it? Focus on the “author and perfector of our faith.” “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:3 NASB) So that the more I think of Christ today, of what He is and has done for me, and the more I think of and long for His coming again—the more my heart will be kept clean.
“God create in us clean hearts!” AMEN!
The argument being, what about the days that are not positive? What about the days where things don’t work out? What about the days when you don’t wake up feeling blessed, and there is no new car, the diagnosis is still there, you’re still estranged from your loved ones, and the bills keep piling up as you’re trying to financially hold it all together? Are you not blessed then? Is being blessing only contingent on things going well?
This reminds me of another word in the modern Christian vernacular that has quietly disappeared and does not get used much any longer and that word is “sinner.” I’ve noticed many avoid it, replace it (lack of judgement, I made a poor choice, not enough information, it’s the systems fault, etc.) while others simply cringe at the very mention of the word as it brings up past church experiences that have left scars and wounds.
Yet the Bible is very clear, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23) The Psalmist David would say, “In sin my mother conceived me.” Like it or not, this is our default posture before God. We can try to explain it away, excuse it or even ignore it but it’s there and it needs to be dealt with. Thankfully, Jesus has dealt with it on the cross. He became the atoning sacrifice for all our sins once and for all.
“Then if all my sins have been forgiven by Jesus, why then do I still have to confess them?” This is a common question that trips up a lot of Christians as the bible says, “confess your sins” (1 John 1:9) even as believers. How do we reconcile this?
When we sin as believers, it doesn’t cancel our salvation, but it does hinder our intimacy, fellowship, and closeness with God. When I was a kid, I would constantly disobey my father and break his commands. I remained part of the family, that was never in question, but the closeness was strained until the issue was resolved. Whenever we ignore, hide or dismiss our sins, our relationship with God will grow cold and distant.
Confession is not about re-earning God’s forgiveness, but about restoring and maintaining healthy relationship with our heavenly Father. Think of it as tending our friendship with God. Confession is a vital part of our walk with Christ that keeps us close to Him, in full humility and dependency. This is how we keep a vibrant spiritual life and walk in freedom and in grace.
Psalm 51 is one of my favorite Psalms that highlights this beautifully. In it we find one of David’s most personal prayers that expresses his deep lament and confession of his own sin. It starts off with, “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin!”
According to the title, David composed the psalm because of Nathan the prophet confronting him of his wrongdoing, both in his committing adultery with Bathsheba but also in the arranging of the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite.
I want you to notice three specific words David uses for his actions: Transgression, Iniquity and Sin. What is the difference between the three? Transgression is a strong word from which we get the word aggressive or aggression. It simply means an intentional defection from God or intentional rebellion against Him. Think of it like being presumptuous, someone knowing what is right (ignoring right) and choosing what is wrong. Iniquity is the perversion of right behavior. It relates more to the inner character and heart that intentionally twists God’s standard. It’s premediated sin. Not only do I ignore what is right, I plan to do wrong. This is the worst form of wrongdoing. The third word used is Sin, Sin is simply means missing the mark. Think of an archer who missed the mark trying to hit the bullseye. Sin is the general, catch all term for anything that “falls short of the glory of God.”
Yet David here makes a clear distinction of his wrongdoing. In essence, David says I have not just missed the mark or stumbled into something that caught me off guard. Rather, I have plotted, planned, and purposefully premeditated something that was the perversion of right behavior. I was presumptuous, intentional and I knew what I was doing.
Yet in his state, notice what David appeals to: God’s steadfast unfailing love and his abundant, compassionate mercy. He uses strong words like blot out, wash and cleanse. David is humbly pleading to God and His character and heart. In the process acknowledging his own brokenness and wickedness. He would go onto say in verse 10 of Psalm 51, “create in me a clean (pure) heart, O God, and renew a right (Steadfast) spirit within me.”
This is why I believe David is known as a man after God’s own heart. When he messed up royally, (pun intended) he came to God with deep reverence and acknowledgement of his true condition. He confesses his transgression, iniquity and sin pleading for forgiveness while seeking a fresh start, a clean slate, a faithful spirit, a renewed heart, and a new beginning. Why does he do it? Verse 11 and 12 of Psalm 51 tell us, “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
David knew that unconfessed sin, would diminish the relationship he had with God. His joy was zapped, the Spirits activity in his life was quenched and the intimacy of God’s presence was no longer there.
Do you ever feel like your relationship with God is stagnant? Do you ever feel like your joy is gone? Like the spirit is not moving in your life like he once did? Maybe you need to restore relationship with God through confession.
I want to challenge you as we make our way towards Easter to adopt the prayer of David. “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God.” The bible says the heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” There was a part of David that thirsted for God like a deer thirst for water; yet there was another part of David that had a terrible appetite for sin. (Paul describes this struggle in Romans 7) David understood this struggle all too well. And in full transparency he says, “Create in me…” This means, this doesn’t come naturally. I’m naturally a transgressor and full of iniquity and sin.
Yes, most of the time, our tendency is to frame this prayer more like “make my heart clean” or “wash my heart.” This indicates taking something soiled and attempting to get rid of any traces of dirt or messiness. But this is a different request than, create in me.
To “create” something means to start from scratch. To start again, brand new. When David was appealing to God to create in Him a new heart, I believe he was calling on God’s creative power, to literally renew his heart so that he could again enjoy the intimacy that was lost.
I believe the start of this process happens when we confess our wrongdoing: our iniquity, transgression, and sin. When we sin, we must immediately come to God, confessing our sins and seeking a renewal in our relationship with Him. Some deceive themselves by trying to minimize their sins. Others deceive themselves by trying to ignore their sins. Yet only the person who is willing to confess their sin can find cleansing and full fellowship with God.
This is why David comes along in the first 6 verses of Psalm 32 and says, Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit, there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
David’s sin seemed to choke the very life out of him. Yet he turns to God, confesses the sin, pleads for forgiveness, and seeks a fresh start and a clean slate. God being faithful, answered and renewed his heart. I love verse 6, “Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found.”
David’s prayer is answered in a promise found in Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ez. 36:26)
This fulfilled promise makes it clear for us today: The time in which the Lord is found, is now! If we seek Him, we will find Him and He will answer. How do we do it? Focus on the “author and perfector of our faith.” “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:3 NASB) So that the more I think of Christ today, of what He is and has done for me, and the more I think of and long for His coming again—the more my heart will be kept clean.
“God create in us clean hearts!” AMEN!
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