Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.

  Psalm 51:10-13

Without a redemptive, loving God, we would all be in serious, spiritual jeopardy. Thankfully, God is a redemptive, loving God, desiring to restore us from everything that the world seeks to disrupt in our lives. But even with the benevolence of Almighty God, we can still miss out on everything that He wants for us to experience in this life. Fear, doubt, despair, and, of course, unbelief drive our hearts away from the reality that God has provided us in Christ. So, if we are going to get serious about restoration and being in right relationship with God, we need to be living a lifestyle of worship and, when we sin, confession. But we would be remiss to speak of confession and not couple that with repentance. Confession without repentance is merely an unwillingness to live according to God’s standards. Confession without repentance only makes for a repetitive cycle of sin, confession, sin, confession, and so on. But repentance moves us beyond confession to a mode of actually making a change. After all, if we continue to repeat our mistakes over and over again, how can we ever move into a life of wholeness, healing, and restoration? So let’s take a look at this third restorative activity in which we can participate. 

Today’s passage is a continuation of David’s prayer to God after falling into the sin of adultery and murder. If the first four (4) verses deal with David’s confession, these four (4) verses make known his willingness to repent. Consider each phrase. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” David’s first two (2) requests surround his desire to operate in the mode that he was in before his sin. He walked with God, relied on God, and trusted God prior to his sin. David now wants all of that restored back into his life and his first two requests reflect just that. “Create” and “renew” are actions that only God can do in a life torn by strife, shame, guilt, and sin. It is God that has to create a clean heart in a fallible human being and it is God that has to breathe into us renewal. This is why, in this portion of the Psalm, David has moved from talking about his sin and begins to focus on God’s activity in his life. This is imperative for us after committing sin. The enemy would like nothing more than for us to focus on the failure rather than the redemptive, restorative power of God in our lives (1 Peter 5:8). None of us can turn back the clock. That’s why we need to be discerning of the devil’s activity in our lives. The enemy will focus on the past and the failure (the one thing that we cannot change). This only makes sense because he desires for us to be consumed with the debilitating effects of shame and guilt. So we should learn from David’s life. Begin with a cry for God’s mercy, in the shadow of shame and guilt, absolutely! But don’t stay there! We must move from the past to the present and then to the future that we have in the restoration that God will bring into our lives once again. This is the effect of repentance and David knew the importance of moving into this mode of thinking and praying. 

“Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” It’s not uncommon for believers to go through a period of time in their lives when they “feel” as though they are not saved and begin to question the finished work of the cross. The problem with this is that salvation is not based on a feeling rather it is based on a promise. When reading this portion of David’s request, we need to understand that he lived in a period of time when the people of Israel were under the old covenant. Just as everything will change when Christ returns for a second time, everything changed when He came the first time. God established, in Christ, a new covenant in which we are now saved by faith and not by works (Romans 3:28). In David’s day, the Holy Spirit would come “on” people for various reasons. Under the new covenant, at conversion, we receive the Holy Spirit to come and live on the inside of our heart (Acts 2:38). So, we need not worry about God removing His Spirit from us or casting us away from His presence. That is the fate of those outside of Christ at judgment. But, as believers, we need not be concerned with this because we are secure in Christ (Romans 8:1). 

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.” David’s next two (2) requests focus back on the activity of God in his life. “Restoring” and “sustaining” are, again, actions that only God can do in our lives after sin. David wanted the joy of God’s salvation back into his life again and he wanted God to sustain him with a willingness to serve Him once again. Create, renew, restore, and sustain are all actions that God must take in the life of a broken person and they are at the heart of a repentant spirit.

“Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.”

Notice that David ends the prayer with an acknowledgment that he will once again teach others about God and tell of the wonderful way in which God had treated him during his darkest time of need (created by his own hand). And what would be the result of this teaching? Others would give their lives to God and be converted and saved, leading to a life of serving God as well. Repentance brings about productivity once again. We may feel disqualified when we sin, but we need to remember that our qualifications to serve God come from Him (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). True, humble, sincere  confession, leading to a heart of repentance, will bring about the restorative power of God back into our lives, making us productive once again. We need not ever forget that!

So you’ve been brought low by your own actions? You have so much sin to confess that you’ve lost track of everything? Perhaps you believe that your sin is not forgivable. Maybe you believe that you have crossed too many lines to move back into fellowship with God. Perhaps you are caught in a cycle of sin that you can’t seem to break. Whatever the case in your situation, if you find yourself in David’s shoes as a result of sin, are you ready to be restored? Confession and repentance work in tandem to bring about the restorative power of God. But we all have to adopt the heart of David. We can even use Psalm 51 as a template for how to pray to God in the areas of confession and repentance. But when approaching the throne of God, just remember, that, in Christ, we have a Mediator that understands our weaknesses and can sympathize with our situation (Hebrews 4:14-16). That doesn’t mean that God has no standards or that He will just sweep our sin “under the rug.” Quite the opposite. God wants us to be free from the destructive power of sin in our lives and to move into a restored, vibrant, personal relationship with Him, something far superior to anything that this world has to offer. So go to God today. Be honest with Him and with yourself. He will not speak words of condemnation over a heart desiring to be made right again. Then rely on His redemptive, restorative power as He creates, renews, restores, and sustains you with His power (Ephesians 3:16). There is life after sin…even the sins of adultery and murder. Being a new walk with Christ today!

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous (just) to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

      1 John 1:9