05/16/2018 CLEAN
Psalms 51:10 Create in me a new, clean heart, O GOD, filled with clean thoughts and right desires. Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take your HOLY SPIRIT from me. Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. [Living Bible translation]
BIBLICAL COMMENTS
David rose from the position of a simple shepherd to king of all Israel. He went from the bottom hills herding sheep to the very top of the power hierarchy, the throne. Having “been there,” David should have understood what it was like to have little to nothing. He should have understood how it felt to be just a soldier in the king’s army, as he had been when he served King Saul. But after rising to the top and to power, David lost his moral compass and strayed from what was right.
David took what was not his—namely another soldier’s wife. David got the soldier’s wife pregnant and then David orchestrated the soldier’s murder by sending the soldier to the front line of battle. (See 2 Samuel 11). When confronted with what he had done by the prophet Nathan, David confesses that he had sinned against GOD. See, 2 Samuel 12:13. In Psalms 51:10 David not only asks GOD to forgive him for his sinful actions, but David goes to the very root of the problem—the sinful thoughts and desires within himself. David prays to GOD to correct David, the inner man/the sinner.
Unlike Adam, David does not try to shift the blame. Unlike Cain, David does not focus on his punishment or make excuses. David confronts himself and humbles himself to GOD, admitting that the temptation and disobedience manifested itself first in his mind and his heart. Admitting that he (David) is the problem, David pleads with GOD for a clean heart. He prays for clean thoughts and asks GOD to give him right desires. He pleads for GOD’s HOLY SPIRIT. David humbles himself and simply come clean with GOD----he confesses he is a sinner--- he admits his desperate need for GOD’s help and begs for forgiveness.