Lessons from David | Made New

Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me! Please don't throw me out of your presence; please don't take your holy spirit away from me. Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit.

Psalm 51:10-12 (CEB)

After a major storm, there's always a choice to make. You can focus on all the damage, or you can start cleaning up and rebuilding. Both responses acknowledge the storm happened. But only one moves forward. That's what David does in these verses. He shifts from focusing on the damage his sin caused to asking God to rebuild what's been broken.

Earlier in Psalm 51, David talks a lot about sin, wrongdoings, and guilt. But look at the change in these verses. David stops talking about his sin and starts talking about what God can do. He stops focusing on what he's destroyed and starts asking God to create something new.

"Create a clean heart for me, God." "Put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me." "Return the joy of your salvation to me."

This isn't denial. David hasn't forgotten what he's done. But he also hasn't gotten stuck there. Instead, he's asking God to do what only God can do, to transform him. Restore him. Make him new.

And notice that David isn't promising to do better. He's not offering to work really hard to fix himself. He's not making vows about how he'll never mess up again. He's simply asking God to do the work. 

The Hebrew word David uses here for "create" is the same word used in Genesis 1 when God created the heavens and the earth. It's a word that's only used for what God does, creating something out of nothing, bringing life where there was death, making new what was broken.

David knows he can't create a clean heart for himself. He can't put a new spirit inside himself. He can't restore his own joy. These are things only God can do.

And that's actually good news. Because if fixing ourselves after we fail depended on our own efforts, we'd all be in trouble. We're not strong enough. We're not capable enough. We can't transform ourselves no matter how hard we try.

But God can. God specializes in taking broken, sinful, messed-up people and making them new. God takes hearts that are stained and makes them clean. God takes spirits that are crushed and makes them faithful. God takes joy that's been lost and restores it.

Look at what David asks for in verse 12: "Return the joy of your salvation to me." When we fail, when we sin, when we mess up badly, one of the first things we lose is joy. We might still be saved. We might still be God's children. But the joy is gone. We feel heavy. Burdened. Ashamed.

But David knows something important: Joy isn't something we have to manufacture ourselves. Joy is something God restores. Joy is something God gives back to us when we come to him honestly, confess our sin, and ask him to make us new.

And that's the kind of joy that can exist even after failure. Even after we've messed up. Even after we've done things we deeply regret. Because the joy of salvation isn't based on our performance. It's based on God's grace.

So if you've been endlessly replaying your failures, it's time to make the shift David makes here. It's time to ask God to create something new in you. Not because what you did doesn't matter. Not because you shouldn't feel remorse. But because staying stuck in confession doesn't move you forward. At some point, you have to trust that God can take your broken heart and make it clean. At some point, you have to trust that God can take your broken heart and make it clean.

So ask God to create a clean heart in you. Ask God to put a new, faithful spirit inside you. Ask God to restore the joy of your salvation to you. And then trust that God can and will do exactly that.

Prayer

God, I can't fix myself. I can't create a clean heart on my own. I can't restore my own joy. I've tried, and I've failed. So I'm asking you to do what only you can do. Create in me a clean heart. Put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me. Restore the joy of your salvation to me. I'm tired of being weighed down by guilt and shame. I want to experience the freedom that comes from your forgiveness. Do the work in me that I can't do for myself. Make me new. Amen.