“Create in me a clean heart”

Devotional

In 2 Samuel 11, King David has a scandalous affair with a woman named Bathsheba. She was the wife of Uriah, one of David’s elite military commanders. When she became pregnant, David attempted a cover-up by having Uriah killed and taking the widowed Bathsheba as his wife.

So why would someone God calls “a man after my heart” in Acts 13:22 commit such heinous sins? For the same reasons we do: we have inherited a sin nature and face the temptations and deceptions of Satan. And on top of that, according to James 1:14–15, we also choose to sin of our own free will.

What separates David from most of us is not the reality of his sin but the faith of his response.

After Nathan exposed David’s immorality in 2 Samuel 12:1–12, David responded, “I have sinned against the Lᴏʀᴅ” (v. 13). Then he wrote Psalm 51 to express his contrition to God.

Rather than shutting God out, he turned to the Lord, seeking his “mercy” and appealing to his “steadfast love” (v. 1). He prayed in Psalm 51:1–2 that God would “blot out my transgressions,” “wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,” and “cleanse me from my sin!”

Later he prayed that the Lord would “purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (v. 7). He believed that God could “let me hear joy and gladness” and “let the bones that you have broken rejoice” (v. 8). Then he prayed that God would “hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities,” “create in me a clean heart,” and “renew a right spirit within me” (vv. 9–10).

David believed that, in answer to his repentance, God would restore the joy of his salvation and uphold him with a willing spirit (v. 12). In fact, he was confident that he would be restored so fully that he would then teach other sinners to return to God (v. 13).

We have focused this week on God’s call to his people to “turn from their wicked ways” in 2 Chronicles 7:14. Let’s finish the week by claiming his amazing grace when we do. Let’s believe with David that, no matter the depth and depravity of our failures, God’s love and mercy are deeper and stronger still. Let’s confess our sins in full faith that God will “cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, my emphasis) and “remember [our] sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).

The great preacher John Claypool told of a priest who committed a terrible sin in seminary. Though he had confessed his failure to the Lord, he lived for years with the aftermath of guilt.

One day a member of his church came to him with the startling news that the Lord had begun speaking audibly to her in prayer. The priest was dubious and said to her, “The next time the Lord speaks to you, ask him what sin your priest committed in seminary.” She said she would.

She came back a few days later and the priest asked if she had done what he suggested. She said she had in fact asked the Lord what sin he had committed when he was in seminary. He asked if the Lord responded to her. She said that he did.

“What did he say?” the priest asked.

She replied, “He said, ‘I don’t remember.’”

How amazing is it that God extends his cleansing grace to us today? Let’s reflect on this truth as we enter a time of guided prayer.

today’s devotional is written by Jim Denison