We will make a study of Psalm 51 in the next few thoughts, but we will begin with verse 10. This is not to change the divine order of the chapter, but because this part fits today's problem and will lead us into the remainder of this great meditation.
I know that the above was not the scintillating introduction necessary to draw in readers, but that is how it seems best to proceed. Leading with the sensational and titillating would perhaps draw more interest, but it would also send the wrong impression of what we are attempting to communicate. So settle back and enjoy the sensation.
A newly, less popular pundit recently tweeted (often we use twit and it seems appropriate here) that the youngest son of President Trump would probably end up being the first home school shooter. I hope I don't offend you, but I thought that comment was neither funny nor clever. The first thing that sprang into mind was that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34)
That heart needs to be cut out and thoroughly cleaned before replacement. Then I read Ps 51:
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
And it struck me that a lot of hearts need to be re-created, and not just cleaned, mine included. (Aside: Kathie Hill wrote a nice little children's musical called "Dr. Newheart." If you are looking for material for children's ministry you cannot go wrong with that. My kids and wife sang, and perhaps still do sing, it for years after they learned it. But I digress.) We need a new heart.
Doctors today can transplant hearts and that might come to mind. But the "replacement" heart already has some miles on it. It is not "new" it is just different. And, unfortunately, that will not solve the problem. It is not the muscle in our chest that needs to be re-created.
A word study informs us that "heart" is the center of our emotion: The "me" that makes me, me. The heart that needs replacement is not physical, but spiritual. This is a bigger job than any physician can undertake.
David's prayer is seemingly coincidental with the description Paul penned in 2 Corinthians 5:17: a new creation. (Paul repeats that phrase in Galatians 6:15.) We are way past cleaning, just as my old t-shirt was after I changed the oil–and got some on me. It had to be retired to the rag-bag and replaced with a new one.
Paul and David both focus on the necessity of not just cleaning up, but of re-creating the old heart. But David does not stop there. "...and renew a right spirit within me." Notice the order of action. Trying to impose a different or right spirit onto the old frame is doomed to fail. We require a new heart, then a right spirit. Any other order would be akin to putting new decking boards on a rotten deck frame. The whole thing will come crashing down. (I am just filled with mechanical comparisons, today.)
Paul said we need a new start, a new heart. Jesus said the same thing to Nicodemus in John 3. Nic, and I, need a second chance, a new start, the new birth. Once that happens, as Paul reports, we are new creatures. And boy did David understand that. We will go back and look at his path to this realization. I can hardly wait.
Our final thought on the reckless tweet comes from Proverbs 12:16 without comment. (That is a comment in and of itself, isn't it?)
16 A fool's displeasure is known at once, but whoever ignores an insult is sensible.
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