Psalm 51: 10, 12
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
Renew a right spirit within me.
Restore to me again the joy of Your salvation,
And make me willing to obey You.
I cannot clean my own heart, I can only reform my actions. Only God can reach into my inward parts and cleanse away all the stains on my heart by washing me in the blood of Christ. Only God can renew my human spirit, by giving me His Spirit to live there.
Then when I am clean in and out, that's when God's salvation creates joy in my heart. As I reflect on all God has done for me that I would never be able to do for myself, in His mercy and grace, then His love for me prompts me to love Him back, and to want to do what He wants me to do.
Philippians 2: 13
For it is God Who works in you both to will and to act according to His good purpose.
This is how He works in my life. I think about Who God is, what He has done, and what He has accomplished for me in my life. And my response is, I want to know more about His ways: how I can think like He thinks, to do what I need to do each day in light of how He would have me do it, or say it, or feel it. This is God working in me.
I know that in myself, before God found me, I thought that I could make my own decisions, that I didn't need anyone to tell me what to do; I was smart, I could do it all myself.
Now I know that I know nothing! I only know that God knows, and I trust Him to lead me through this darkness I can't see into, with His light of Truth. It's a narrow path, but as long as I keep my hand in His, He won't let me slip off that path into a ditch on the right hand or on the left. And He shines His Light on all the rocks and potholes to avoid, step by step each day.
It's when I try to go my own way that I always get into trouble. So I just turn around, back to Him, and He forgives me, washes my feet again, and shows me how to get back to His path for me.
O my Father, in spite of all my rebellion, You have had mercy on me to not give me the punishment I deserve, but to pour out Your grace upon me, giving me all the goodness and rightness of Your Son. It is You alone Who is due all the credit for everything that is pleasant or beautiful in me.
Please continue to create in me that clean heart, removing all the stony places that still try to deceive me, so that the wellsprings of my life will flow with Your graciousness and lovingkindness.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
