Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10
David wrote this Psalm, and I can’t help but think of the humility and repentance David shows here in contrast to his predecessor, Saul. Both King David and King Saul disobeyed God. David committed adultery and murder and Saul failed to execute God’s judgement on the Amalekites and instead took the spoil that God had commanded him to destroy. But their responses are so different.
When Samuel first addresses Saul’s sin, Saul claims to have kept God’s command and blames the people for taking the spoil. Only after Samuel reveals that God has rejected Saul does Saul realize that his sin was actually sin. And what’s more, when he asks for forgiveness, he asks so that he can still appear righteous before the people, but doesn’t seem to recognize the gravity of his sin. “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the LORD your God.” (1 Samuel 15:30)
When Nathan addresses David’s sin, Psalm 51 is David’s response. He recognized that his sin was not just against Bathsheba and Uriah, but against God himself, and that God was the one most offended by his sin. He asked for God’s mercy, for God to take away his sin and give him a new heart. He repented of his sin and did not want to continue in it. God gave David a new heart, and allowed David to continue his role as king.
A contrite, humble, repentant heart is the heart that God listens to, a heart that recognizes the severity of sin, and the mercy and grace of our God. We must recognize that our hearts are lead astray into sin and that we need God to make us new. We must turn from our sin and look to Jesus to be made new.
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!
References: 1 Samuel 15, 2 Samuel 11, Psalm 51, Isaiah 57:15, John 3:14, Colossians 3:1-4
Studio Update:
Spring is coming so fast…I’m going to blink and miss it! So much stuff is green in the garden and the daffodils are starting to bloom (though only our earliest ones, the bulk of them will probably start up in a week or two). Mom and I both got a nice surprise walking to the garden yesterday…all our super-short, super-early, mini dutch irises just popped overnight and there was a whole row of purple!
I got out my colored pencils for some fun projects (which naturally take a little longer than watercolor, but I enjoy them very much)…and then I had a craving to make something purple one afternoon, so plopped a little sketch in my sketchbook.
Thanks for stopping by!
Blair