Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you. Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness. Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you. You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
The times in our lives where we feel the worst physically, mentally or morally may not be the times when we desire to come into God’s presence, but in reality, it’s those times when we need him the most. It’s at those times when redemption, in the form of God’s spirit, calls us near.
In this passage in Psalms, we see David at a crossroads, remembering his actions, which we read about in 2 Samuel, regarding his adultery with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her husband, Uriah. Already by the first verse of the Psalm, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness …” (KJV), it is likely that David is already on his knees in a repentant spirit. The first part of the chapter focuses on his confession of sin, desire to know the truth and forgiveness. By verse 10, however, he changes modes away his carnal actions and seemingly turns inward toward his spirit and God’s.
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.
John 14:16-19 (NASB)
In the passage in Psalms and this verse in John, the Bible outlines some of the many things the Holy Spirit, called the Helper in John, does in the life of a Christian. After his restoration, David says the spirit of God brings joy and the willingness to sing praises to God. The spirit brings an ability and desire to teach God’s truth to an unbelieving world. It brings a boldness, “Unseal my lips, Oh Lord, that my mouth may praise you,” to publically praise God him for who he is.
Specifically, who is God? Christians can know him more intimately because of the spirit he brings into each of our lives. In fact, John implies that we have a oneness with God because we, not only believe that Christ is God in the flesh and the savior of all, but we also have residing in us his abiding spirit. Like David, John gives us some specific attributes of the Holy Spirit and the work he does in our lives. First, he is with us forever, helping us grow and mature in Christ daily. In this book, John uses the Greek paráklētos to describe the Holy Spirit as one who will give strength, comfort and counsel to Christ’s followers.
So, in our modern age, why is this important? We surely already get strength, comfort, help and love from friends and family members. Why do we need anything more? We need something more because one day, all that we love and cherish on this earth will be no more. Family members will, one by one, leave our side. Friend will disappoint us. TV sets, computers, cars and houses will decay. But the help that Christ offers, through his spirit, includes not only help and comfort to get through this carnal life but forgiveness and eternal life. And the help and forgiveness hinges on whether we are today willing to give up ourselves and to trade in our life for one He offers. It is one enveloped in a kind of love that we can’t fathom, a kind of love that makes the love we have friends and family pale in comparison.
In penning one of the greatest poems, Christian or otherwise, John Donne surely knew this and was likely thinking on these things when he said “Your force to break; blow, burn, and make me new.” Here is his short and powerful love sonnet to God:
BATTER my heart, three-personed God; for you / As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; / That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend / Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. / I, like an usurped town, to another due, / Labor to admit you, but O, to no end; / Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, / but is captived, and proves weak or untrue. / yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain, / But am betrothed unto your enemy. / Divorce me, untie or break that knot again; / Take me to you, imprison me, for I, / Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, / Nor even chaste, except you ravish me.
Prayer
Father, thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to help and comfort me. Thank you for loving me enough to send your son to take my place. When I deserved death, you gave me life. When I turned by back on you, you were unmoved and waited for my return. I’m sorry for the times I’ve done my own thing failed to put my trust in you. Help me to lean on your spirit more and more for my sustenance. In Christ’s name…