“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalms 51:10)
David wrote Psalm 51 after Nathan confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba. It was as if David’s eyes were opened when Nathan came to him and told him what God thought of his actions. He realized that he had sinned against God, the One he loved and the One he served. In this verse he asks the Lord to make his heart a pure heart. His sin with Bethsheba was one of lust. He had gone to great lengths to cover up his sin and had murdered her husband by sending him to the worse part of the battle where he was sure to be killed.
David realizes his weakness and inability to make his heart clean. He knows that only God can change a man’s heart. He surrenders his heart to the Lord, knowing that with a clean and pure heart, his desires will change. And his heart will be bent on doing what God wants. But what is done is done and he can’t reverse what he’s done. He had married Bethsheba. She was now his wife. He couldn’t undo that.
The heart in the Old Testament was a word used for feelings, intellect and will. It’s talking about the soul which is the mind, will and emotions. We know that the soul is influenced on the evil side by the flesh, the world and the devil. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Galatians 5:17) The flesh is of the world so inadvertently the world influences the spirit of man. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1John 2:16) And behind the world system of darkness is the devil who is the one who rules the world. Jesus called him the prince of this world. (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11)
On the godly side the soul can be influenced by the born again spirit, which is born of God, pure and holy, and by the Holy Spirit. Our spirits reborn of God is one with God and communicates to us what God wants. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2Corinthians 3:18) In the Old Testament, Jesus the Messiah had not come yet. He had not taken our sins. And man’s spirit was not able to be born again of God. The Holy Spirit did not indwell yet. God had set up rituals in the law to cover the sin, but that couldn’t change one’s heart. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3-4) The law had no power to change man's heart. The Holy Spirit worked on man by coming upon him, but He was not in him. Man’s heart was darkened because his spirit was darkened. Man’s soul was not able to be influenced by God. But God could touch a man’s heart and change it. And that is what David prayed for in his song. He prayed that God would make his heart pure.
In the second part of this verse, David prays that God would renew a right spirit or a perfect and faithful spirit in him. Because the Old Testament covenant didn’t contain any way to have a perfect and faithful spirit, one could only measure its rightness and faithfulness by his deeds. And David had failed to act rightly, perfectly and faithful. What he is asking God is to renew him to the state where he acted righteously, faithfulness and perfectly in line with what pleased God.
The New Covenant ratified by Jesus isn’t dependent on our deeds. We would all fail. It’s depended on the deeds of Jesus. Jesus is righteous, perfect and faithful to the Father in all things. “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, Who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all His house.” (Hebrew 3:1-2) And He poured out His righteousness on us when we surrendered to Him. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Corinthians 5:21)
Considering the covenant God had with man in the Old Testament, David prayed correctly in his song. But God’s covenant with man through the work of Jesus Christ is a better covenant that doesn’t depend on us but on Jesus. When we believe on Him and surrender to Him, God saw at that time our old sinful man crucified with Jesus. And we are born again of God, His children, with pure and holy spirits, influenced by the Holy Spirit Who indwells.
Comentarios