Faith Scales. Create in me a clean heart O Lord. (Psalm51) Intro. Create in me a clean heart O God. Let’s have a look at some definitions of clean. (Free dictionary. com) Clean is Free from dirt, stain or impurities; unsoiled. But To be clean is to be Free from foreign matter or pollution its Unadulterated: Has anyone ever watched how clean is your house? Yeah a tad mingling and always makes me want to jump up and clean, not that my house looks like that for a second, but Why do we clean? ‘Well you never know what you have until you clean your room. ’ ‘I love cleaning up messes I didn’t make so I became a wife and a mum.
But What if you don’t like cleaning. Well You could always post a sign on your door that says :- ‘my house was clean yesterday, sorry you missed it. ’ How clean is your heart? Psalm 51 says:- ‘Create in me a clean Heart, O God. ’ Background. This Psalm was written by the noble King David, a man covenanted with God. Now as a king – David he was successful, infact he was one of the most successful Kings of his time. He was a Psalmist and prophet, But more importantly had a heart for God. At the end of his life David was rich, but also full of wisdom and honour.
David had a relationship with God he knew how much he was loved, the evidence of this is in his writing, he acknowledges the great compassion and love that comes only from God. But Because of this love he is also aware of God’s expectations and therefor convicted of his sin. King David wrote this psalm at a time when his human nature had got the better of him. He had his successes, the battles won, the people he led and even escaping death at the hands of Saul. David however did not get to the end of his life without getting into a spot of bother. This whole of Psalm 51 is you could say a begging letter to God.
He writes ‘Have mercy on me, O God? , because of your unfailing love. ’ Because of your great compassion, blot out the stains of my sin” . The biggest blot and the reasoning behind the writing was his adulteress act with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11. What happened. For whatever reason the day this sin took place King David had stayed behind in Jerusalem while Joab and the Isaraelite army went out to fight the Ammonites. I want you to picture the scene – David after having an afternoon snooze gets out of bed and walks around the palace roof, he can see right across the city.
The King surveys the splendor of His Kingdom, Looking down he spots a very beautiful lady taking a bath. He immediately sends out a messenger to find out who she is. Upon being told that she is Bathsheba the wife of Uriah the Hittite. A messenger was sent back out to request her presence at the palace. Well I bet David couldn’t believe his luck not only did The very beautiful Bathsheba arrive, but Her husband Uriah is out at war alongside Joab and the Israelite army. David’s senses leave him and an adulteress act is committed. Ok so a great sin, but he’d made a mistake – one sin committed and lesson learned??
No not David, upon later finding that Bathsheba is pregnant he tries to cover up his act. He summons her Husband Uriah to go on home to his wife for some rest and relaxation, he even sends a present to be waiting for him when he got there. Unfortunately for David Uriah was having none of it. Two nights runnings he tries to coax Uriah into going home without success, he point blank refuses, there was no way he was going home when his fellowmen were standing guard against the enemies, and so he stayed at the palace gates with the guards.
Uriah was certainly outshining King David In the loyalty department. David was in it up to his neck, there was no way he could squirm his way out of this one. He was going to have to get rid of Uriah all together. Now whether he thought because he’d committed one sin he may as well add another I don’t know, but David goes from a moment of madness to premeditated murder. He instructs Joab to place Uriah on the front line where the battle is the fiercest. Uriah was killed alongside those he faithfully stood side by side with for no other reason than to cover up someone else’s sin.
Bathsheba mourned her husband, but when the period of mourning was over she was then taken By David to be one of his wives where she bore their son. Winner winner, David now had a new wife a family and his sin covered up. But had it? What about his relationship with God while all this had been going on? David hadn’t got away with it God had of course seen every wrong move, every deed that was done. But what did this now mean? was this the end for the king?
Samuel and chapter 12 goes on to tell that God sent the Prophet Nathan to rebuke David, here the message is given that David was to pay the price for his sin. There was no getting away from the wrath of God. Not only were his wives to become unfaithful but the utmost sacrifice was to be made by David’s own son. Can you imagine the guilt that David felt, his own son was to lose his life as the consequence for His fathers sin. David was devastated, “have mercy on me O God, because of your unfailing love, because of your compassion, blot out the stains of my sin”. V’s 1-2) e came with a contrite heart, he recognised and admitted his sins before God.
He was indeed a broken man, convicted by his own stupidity. “ I recognise my rebellion, It haunts me day and night” (v3 of the psalm says). Yes he’d got rid of Uriah, he’d covered up his sin alright by committing another one, but it was still there. David knew the love of God and therefore knew the heart of God. He knew the reality that nothing but the forgiveness of his father God would suffice. “Purify my sins” Psalm 51:7 says “and I will be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
His joy had been taken away, he had sacrificed his own son, he was spiritually and emotionally bankrupt. ‘Don’t keep looking at my sin’ he asks God, he wants to be put out of his misery. David did not make excuses, he didn’t blame anyone else he stood up and took responsibility for his own actions. What it means for us today? This Psalm holds everything the human nature needs, it shows us the very nature of God – Compassion- God saw David’s brokenness, his unfailing love was greater than David’s sin. We see the father like relationship.
But also the forgiveness that comes when we take responsibility and hold ourselves accountable to Him. This Psalm is God. David wrote in verse 10 ‘ Renew a loyal Spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. David needed God to bring him back to who he had been. Create in me a clean heart O God. God gave David the opportunity to start afresh, the slate wiped clean. David carried on as King, after all what a waste of a life if he had turned away from God and allowed his wrong doings to mark out the rest of his life plan
That same God that offered forgiveness to David is the same God that years later sent his own son as a sacrifice for our sins. I’m not preaching to make you look at ourselves and count every wrong thing we’ve ever done and ponder on it all night, gosh I would never sleep. I’m saying that often we carry our sin around with us, it weighs heavy and we often over look the God that is waiting to cleanse us. When our hearts are clean before God we give him the room to make us the people he wants us to be.
When our homes are clean and tidy we can see clearly the treasures we have within them and the same is with God, With that forgiveness and a heart made clean comes the joy of Salvation, the cherished life that is from God and God alone. Do you need to declutter once again? Is there something in your life that stops you being who you are in Christ, or who Christ wants to be in your life. Is there something that is preventing that right relationship? Do you just simply need to ask God to help you to declutter, to simply make room In Your heart. How clean is your heart?
