A Prayer for Forgiveness and a Clean Heart
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. — Psalm 51:10 (ESV) Maybe it isn't one dramatic failure sitting on you tonight. Maybe it's the pattern you keep circling back to, the same sharp words to your spouse, the same tab closed too late, the same small lie told to keep the peace. You already know what it is. You don't need me to name it for you. You need to know what to do with it now that it's named, and whether God still wants you in the room. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. — Psalm 51:10 (ESV) Bringing this to God Psalm 51 has a superscription most people skip: it was written "when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba." David isn't crying out over a minor lapse. He'd committed adultery, arranged a man's death to cover it, and lied to his own household for the better part of a year before Nathan finally confronted him. This is the man begging, ...