Contemplative Bible Reading

Psalms 51:10 (American Standard Version)

Create in me a clean heart, O God;
And renew a right spirit within me.

I use an older translation today. A little more poetic.

I desire a clean heart. One that isn’t soiled with emotions that are bad for my outlook. Some examples:

• self-pity
• jealousy and envy
• hatred

Oh how I could go on and on with things that I sometimes hold in my heart and push into my life. Some days I have a dirty heart. So I ask God to renew a right spirit within me.

Notice the word “renew.” The writer isn’t asking God to create a right spirit for the first time. The writer asks God to renew or restore or create again the right spirit. God had given me the right spirit before. I let dirt come into my heart. I let it, no one forced it in. I allowed it.

So, yes, please God renew the right spirit in me, in my soiled heart. Have me wipe the mud from my feet before I walk into the house of my heart. Have me use the doormat you have provided—Jesus Christ. Never thought I would think of Jesus Christ as a doormat, but when you think about it, a good dirt-removing door mat is quite a gift.