10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Dear Friends and Members of IBC, We know that David wrote this psalm after having committed adultery with Bathsheba. And having ordered the murder of her husband, Uriah. But we should not relegate this psalm to this catastrophic event in David’s life. If we do, the psalm becomes his plea only–David’s cry in a moment of transgression. Rather, it is such a beautiful psalm for each of us. Psalms are everyday prayers. Here is a sampling just from this one psalm: 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. We recognize that God’s mercy hangs not on our record but on his unfailing love; on his great compassion. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. We repent that we devalue the salvation God has given us through his one and only son. 16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. You want genuine surrender, not acts done merely out of habit. When we take a closer look, we see that Psalm 51 talks about Christian daily living: How we approach God, what he has done for us, and how we should respond. And in all of this, David realizes that God must do it: 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Let us pray this week that God will direct our hearts through his word. God Bless you, IBC. Karl