Asking for a New Heart

David prayed this after his own sexual sin had come to light, after he had wrecked his integrity and harmed others to cover it. Out of that wreckage he prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

Notice the verb. He does not ask God to help him scrub the old heart clean. He asks God to create a new one, because he has learned that his own heart, left to itself, keeps producing the same corruption. This is an honest prayer for a man who has tried and failed to reform himself by effort. Some things in us are past repair and need to be made new, and only God does that kind of making.

If you are tired of promising God a better version of the same heart that keeps breaking its promises, pray David's prayer instead. Ask God to create in you a clean heart, to renew a right spirit where the old one keeps bending toward sin. It is a request he delights to answer, because it finally puts the work where it belongs, in his hands rather than in your willpower.