Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not the spirit of thy holiness from me.
David wrote this prayer after the prophet Nathan confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba. It is the cry of a man afraid of losing two things he cannot live without: God's presence and God's Spirit. Can a believer today pray the same words?
David had watched what happened to the king before him, and that memory shaped this prayer.
The danger of losing the presence, help and power of the Holy Spirit was a very real one. King Saul, Israel's first king, had known the power of the Spirit in his life, but because of his failures the Spirit of God left him (1 Samuel 10:6, 10; 1 Samuel 11:6; 1 Samuel 16:14). Remembering this is what made David pray as he did. Note too that the Spirit of God worked with great power in Samson, a judge of Israel... Then Samson betrayed his Nazirite vow — his vow of separation to God — to the cunning Delilah, and lost his strength. After that, there are no more references to the Spirit working in him.
For David, the Spirit was the very thing that made him feel his sin. And he knew he had no claim left on Him.
Do not take from me the One who presses on my heart and conscience the sense of evil before God; the struggles of a troubled soul; the working of the heart before Him... But David feels that he has forfeited everything — every right, title and claim. God's mercies and steadfast love are the only ground on which God keeps everything He had given him.
David asks first not to be cast away. He does not yet rest in settled assurance of God's favour, but he cannot live outside God's presence.
The soul taught in this way cannot do without the presence of God. Its one dread is to be cast out of it. It does not yet understand grace and the certainty of God's favour, but it cannot do without His presence. To be shut out of that presence would be everlasting misery — and so it truly would be. The more clearly the soul sees Him, the more it feels this.
If the Spirit could be taken from David, what was He doing in believers before Christ came at all?
He prays that this Spirit might not be taken from him, and that he might not lose the sense of his God's presence. The prophet Haggai says this same Spirit stayed with the people after all their failures, and in spite of the exile in Babylon. Some have found this verse difficult; I see no difficulty in it. The Old Testament saints could not have done any good without the Holy Spirit. Take Him from them, and all their joy and comfort ceased and gave way to darkness. This is what David prays will not happen. There cannot be a moment's doubt that the Spirit worked in the Old Testament saints. The question is whether He was present in the same way, living in them, on the ground of Christ's work and glory, joining them to a risen Head in heaven. That, of course, could not be. The work was not yet done, and the man Jesus had not yet entered into the glory.
One writer sets David's prayer beside what Paul writes to Christians about the Spirit.
Notice also how different this is from the language of Psalm 51: "take not your Holy Spirit from me." Paul, even when he presses that we should not grieve the Holy Spirit, never hints that He may be taken away. On the contrary, in the same breath he assures us that He has sealed us for the day of redemption... Where does this difference come from? Not, I hardly need to say, from a higher inspiration in Paul the apostle than in David the king. It comes from the necessary change in the Spirit's relation to the believer, a change God has revealed, since Jesus died and rose and went to heaven.
Cleansing is not where this prayer ends.
Now fit for God's presence, and filled with the Spirit, he would be led back into the joy of salvation. A "willing spirit" would hold him up, in contrast to his past sin in defiance of God. The repentant sinner, now restored, could teach others the ways of God, so that sinners would be turned to God.
- Fear — David prayed with Saul in view: a king who had known the Spirit's power and lost it, as Samson also did.
- Forfeit — He claims nothing. He knows he has lost all right and title, and rests only on God's mercy.
- Presence — What he dreads most is not punishment. It is losing the face of God.
- Change — Jesus died, rose and ascended. Now the Spirit seals the believer for the day of redemption. The warning is no longer that He may leave, but that He may be grieved.
- Purpose — Restoration ends in usefulness. Cleansed, filled and glad again, the forgiven man teaches others God's ways.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and let a willing spirit sustain me.
David prays this after the prophet Nathan confronted him over Bathsheba and the death of her husband Uriah. He does not ask for salvation back, but for lost joy and for a willing spirit that God alone can give.
The verse asks for two things. One is joy that had drained away. The other is a willingness inside that would keep him steady. One writer draws the line:
David asks God to restore to him the joy of God's salvation. He does not ask for salvation itself, for he had not lost that, despite his shameful failure. But a person away from God cannot enjoy God's salvation, so this joy had to be restored. He also asks to be upheld by a willing spirit. That seems to be the right translation of the last phrase of this verse. It means that God would work in him a spirit of willingness to obey Him. How much better is this than a selfish spirit of wanting our own way!
Why does joy leave while salvation stays? One writer answers with a picture of a father and a disobedient child sent to stand in the corner:
But soon he comes out of the corner with broken will and broken heart. He confesses the whole thing from first to last, so that you see he hates the disobedience and naughtiness as much as you do. Then you take him in your arms and cover him with kisses. His joy is restored because communion is restored.
The prayer asks God to change the tone of the inner voice. Restoration is not merely being told again that you are safe:
A soul is restored when it enjoys the favour of God, not simply as certainty of salvation, but when the Spirit, instead of accusing, causes it to rejoice in the goodness of God. Restoration is not complete until there is enjoyment of communion with fellow believers.
David has no record to appeal to, and he knows it. One writer marks a difference between David's case and the Christian's:
As Christians we could not say, "Take not Your Holy Spirit from me," for, thank God, the Holy Spirit stays with us to the end. But David felt that he had forfeited everything — every right, every title, every claim. God's mercies and loving-kindnesses are the only ground on which God maintains everything He had given him. So he says, "Take not Your Holy Spirit from me"; "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation"; "uphold me with a willing spirit."
This prayer stands late in the psalm, after the confession and the crushing. One writer traces the order: first anguish, then this plea, then worship:
There was no restored communion here — only anguish and sorrow… Now his real state has been reached, not just the state he felt. He can say, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." Now he can wash his face and anoint himself. He can enter the house of the Lord and worship. A man now who knows his own heart better, and has learned a deeper lesson of the heart of God!
Another writer notes that joy does not usually come back in a rush of feeling:
Restoration does not usually come as a sudden burst of ecstasy, or anything like that. It comes as our thoughts turn away from ourselves to Christ. The Holy Spirit directs our hearts to His love. As we are occupied with Him, the blessedness we longed for is ours once more.
Restored joy does not stop with the one restored:
Others may see and admire the outward results of restoration, but the Lord finds in the restored soul something that delights Him. David confesses his sin and says, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation." Then he says, "I will teach transgressors Your ways." And as he closes this psalm of repentance, he adds, "then will You delight in right sacrifices." Restored David becomes a blessing to others, but a pleasure to the Lord.
- Kept. Salvation was never in question. David asks only for the joy of it back. Sin costs a believer the enjoyment, not the relationship.
- Lost. Joy goes when communion goes — the child in the corner is still a child, but the kisses wait until the will is broken.
- Asked. He has forfeited every claim, so he pleads on mercy alone. He asks for a willing spirit to hold him up — God working obedience in him, instead of his own way.
- Given. Restoration is not a sudden thrill. The Spirit turns the heart from self to Christ, and the gladness we longed for returns.
- Spent. Restored joy overflows into teaching others. The restored man is a blessing to people and a pleasure to the Lord.