Create in Me

2 Samuel 11-12; Psalms 51; Matthew 23 

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Psalm 51:10

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”

Matthew 23:25

David had a steadfast spirit which had served him well in many battles and very challenging circumstances. However, with willful sin, David’s steadfast spirit wavered and his awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence grew faint. He prayed for the renewal of a steadfast spirit, but he also prayed for the creation of a pure heart. David’s battle with lust and sexual temptation was evidenced by his many wives and most clearly in the conquest of Bathsheba. David’s cry for a pure heart was a cry for God to create in him something that wasn’t there before. It is God who takes a heart of stone and turns it into flesh. The Pharisees, in their focus on the Law of Moses, had forgotten the importance of the heart. The inside of our cup cannot be greed and self-indulgence, while we worship in our Sunday best.

Are we, too, willing to pray a dangerous prayer for God to create a new, pure heart in us? – a heart filled with generosity, sacrificial love, and humility?

“Lord Jesus, create in me a pure heart, for your glory.”