A Prayer For Transformation (Psalms 51:10-13).
Genuine repentance seeks not only forgiveness, but transformation of life. It is no good asking for forgiveness if we intend to do it again. So David wanted not only to be forgiven but also to be restored into the way of obedience in which he had once walked, for then only could his fellowship with God be restored. And he knew that this required the powerful activity of God within him.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And make new a steadfast spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
And take not your holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
And uphold me with a willing spirit.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
And sinners will be converted to you.
‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and make new a steadfast spirit within me.' The word used for ‘create' is the one which is regularly used of God's creative power. It indicates the bringing about of something new. It suggests that he sees his sins as having been so heinous that he needs a new creation to take place within him. His ‘heart', his mind, will and emotions, needs to be reconstituted because the old has been damaged beyond repair. And only God can do it. This is confirmed by the second verb which means to ‘make new'. He feels that he has failed God so utterly that there has to be a wholly new beginning. A ‘clean' heart is a heart free from all taint of sin, including being free from adultery (Numbers 5:28). It is a heart which knows and obeys God (Jeremiah 24:7; Jeremiah 32:29; Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26). A steadfast spirit is one that will keep free from succumbing to temptation.
The Law spoke of two kinds of sins. ‘Sins done in ignorance, that is, unwittingly', for which forgiveness and atonement could be obtained through the offering of sacrifices, and ‘sins with a high hand' for which the penalty was death. They were acts of open and deliberate defiance of God. Adultery and murder were seen as ‘sins with a high hand'. There was no atonement for them. For those only God acting directly could remit the ultimate penalty.
So David is calling on God to perform the ultimate miracle, the total transformation of his inner life. His awareness of his guilt is so great that he is convinced that nothing less will do. He knows that in God's eyes his old self is under sentence of death. He is therefore pleading for a new self.
What is described here is precisely what happens when a person commits himself to Jesus Christ for salvation. He becomes a new creation. Old things pass away and all becomes new (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 4:24). He receives a ‘clean' heart and a ‘steadfast spirit'. It is only the pure in heart who can ‘see God' (Matthew 5:8). Thus from then on he has to put to death the old man, and respond to the new (Romans 6:2-11; Ephesians 4:22-24). In a sense therefore this prayer cannot be prayed by a Christian, who when he becomes aware of sin knows that his new life is still intact. He prays for renewal rather than making new. But the principle is the same. He still needs God's powerful work within in order to be renewed.
‘Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy Spirit from me.' This is speaking of a special enduement of the Spirit for God's work, not simply of the presence of the Holy Spirit in a believer. David was very conscious of the fact that he enjoyed a unique privilege. God had taken way His Spirit from Saul and had rejected Saul (1 Samuel 16:14; compare 1 Samuel 15:11; 1Sa 15:23; 1 Samuel 15:35; 1 Samuel 16:1) and had put His Spirit on David (1 Samuel 16:13). Now he was very fearful lest God would do the same to him as he had done to Saul. To be cast from the king's presence was an indication of rejection, and an indication that the person was no longer suitable to serve the king. In the same way David had visions of this happening to him before God. He is not talking of ‘loss of salvation' but of loss of acceptability and usefulness. He does not say, ‘restore to me your salvation', but ‘restore to me the joy of your salvation'.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.' Earlier (in Psalms 51:8) he had prayed for joy and gladness to be restored to his inner man. Now he repeats his request. He had missed the joy of the Lord for so long that he had not realised it. But now it has come home to him with full force, and he prays for it to be restored. The joy was joy in God's ‘salvation', the status of being a forgiven sinner. ‘Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered -- in whose spirit there is no guile' (Psalms 32:1-2). Note the connection of forgiveness of sins with a right spirit within. Here also he connects the two as he prays for a willing spirit, a ‘made new' spirit (Psalms 51:10). This willing spirit parallels his anticipated joy in salvation. Alternately he was praying that God would have a willing spirit towards him. He had sinned deeply with a high hand. In that case he was recognising that the choice lay wholly with God as to whether He forgave him or not, so it was then a question as to whether God was so willing. He was praying that He would be, a prayer shown as answered in 2 Samuel 12:13. But the parallel suggests that the willing spirit was to be David's (all the other parallels are repeating two parallel ideas).
‘I will teach transgressors (rebels) your ways, and sinners (offenders) will be converted to you.' These words connect closely with the previous ones. It is only if he is still acceptable in God's presence and still His anointed one, that he will be in a position to use his position and authority to teach others the right way, and to face men up with their rebelliousness and their offences. His own need of restoration has brought home to him the precarious situation of others before God. But he can only help them if he himself has been restored. It is those who are most conscious of what God has done for them, who seek humbly to help others. He is not bargaining with God. He is asserting his intention once he himself has been restored.