Psalm 51:10

Psalm 51:10

Create in me a pure heart, O God.

This is one of the most well-known verses in the Bible. I, like many others, learned it at Sunday School and its truth lies embedded in my mind although I confess it has been ignored only too often. This is the beginning of David’s journey to recovery from his sorrows in the dark pit of self-awareness. His sins have been confronted, the true horror of his actions have been recounted, the sense of guilt and overwhelming shame have tortured his soul and he has laid it all before the Lord.  After a long time of honest appraisal, he dares to look up into the face of his Holy God and beg for purity in his heart. David now realises that he cannot clean himself up, his heart his sinful and dark by nature; his thoughts and longings are tainted by that sin that has been with him from conception so, he needs a new heart! A pure heart. Only God can do this. God is creator, God alone can allow us all to begin again, to restart our journey but with a different engine! This time the driving force is a pure heart coupled to a steadfast spirit. 

You see, we all need those two things if we are going to walk faithfully with our Lord. A pure heart is not easy to come by, before it may be created within us we have to face the imperfections of the old one! Then we need a right spirit that is willing and malleable, that is open to the Spirit of God Himself and that will help us to walk along the path of truth and holiness. We cannot create these things; we need the Creator to do it for us. We need to be remade in the likeness of Christ Himself. “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” 

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