A brand new start
Our main verse for Renewed Faith comes from the book of Psalms. It is from David’s Confession after the prophet Nathan exposed King David’s adultery with Bathsheba.
You see, David loved the Lord, but he had sinned against him. “In the Spring, at the time when kings go off to war… David remained in Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1). One evening as David walked on his rooftop he saw a beautiful woman bathing. He sent his messengers to find out more about her and found out that her name was Bathsheba, and that she was already married to one of his soldiers, Uriah, the Hittite.
Even though he knows she’s married, he sends for her while her husband is away at war and sleeps with her. She becomes pregnant with his child and to cover it up, he sends for her husband to come back so that he can sleep with her as well (so that everyone will think it’s Uriah’s child) but Uriah does not. He keeps himself pure in solidarity with the rest of the soldiers that are out at war.
David, learning that Uriah does not sleep with Bathsheba, orders him to stay one more day, invites him to dinner, and gets him drunk so that he can sleep with his wife, but Uriah still does not. So David sends him back to war, but this time with a note for the commander to “Put Uriah in the front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die” (2 Samuel 11: 15).
Uriah does die, and this displeased the Lord. The Lord sends the prophet Nathan to rebuke David and to tell him that because of his sin, the son Bathsheba will have, will die.
David is so contrite and remorseful that he writes Psalms 51, which includes our main verse: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10)
According to Pulpit Commentary we see that David is asking for more than purification or cleansing, he is asking “for a new heart and a new spirit, [and] requests the renovation of his entire mental and moral nature, which he recognizes as corrupt and depraved” (emphasis mine).
The Cambridge Bible for School and Colleges puts it like this: “[Create in me] Rather, Create me, i.e. for me. The word is used of the creative operation of God, bringing into being what did not exist before: and so in the parallel line renew should be rather make new. It is not the restoration of what was there before that he desires, but a radical change of heart and spirit. A right spirit should rather be a steadfast or constant spirit (Psalm 57:7; Psalm 78:37; Psalm 112:7), fixed and resolute in its allegiance to God, unmoved by the assaults of temptation. Such a clean heart and stedfast spirit, the condition of fellowship with God (Matthew 5:8), the spring of a holy life, can only come from the creative, life-giving power of God” (emphasis mine).
Therefore, we ask God, in our renewed faith that He creates in us a new heart and a new spirit that is steadfast and resolute in our walk with Him. We should pray that the Lord helps us to be unmoved by the temptations the enemy or the world will throw at us and that our heart stays true to the one who formed us. There is no sin to great that the Lord can’t forgive of us. He loves us and wants to draw near to us. It’s never too late to ask God to create in us a new heart and spirit.
PUT IT INTO ACTION:
How have you been living your life? Have you been living a life with a new heart and a new spirt for God? Is there a radical change that has been happening in your life since you renewed your faith with the Lord? Write down ways in which your renewed faith has changed your every day life and/or how you can improve in your every day life.
