Psalm 51: ⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. ⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. 

We are told this psalm was written by King David after he was caught in adultery. You may recall from scripture that David and Bathsheba actually conceived a son in that act of adultery – but the child died. Shortly afterward David actually took Bathsheba as his wife and they later conceived another son – Solomon – who would be David’s heir on the throne.

The words of our passage are filled with remorse and regret. And in verse 10 David asks God to do what he cannot do for himself, “Create in me a clean heart, O God…”. Like David, you and I were born with a sinful nature. We tend toward rebellion against God. As I’ve gotten older, I think I am a bit less rebellious than I used to be, but my sinful nature remains. I know that, in my own power, I don’t have the strength to overcome this predisposition to sin. Like David, I need the Lord to cleanse me from the inside out. Lord, let it be so. Amen.