Verse Memorization: Psalm 51:10

I know. This week's post is a couple days late. Thankfully, this week we have an easy verse to memorize, and it's only one verse and not multiple as it has been the past few weeks.

This week we have a verse out of Psalm 51, one of King David's more well known psalms.

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

- Psalm 51:10

(Logos Bible Software)

Now, perhaps, Psalm 51 is not familiar to you and you're wondering why the psalm might be well known or what's so special about it. Psalm 51 is the psalm that King David wrote after he was confronted by the prophet Nathan about his sin with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. If you recall, King David slept with Bathsheba, while her husband Uriah was away at war. She ends up pregnant, and King David tries to cover it up a variety ways, all of which fail, and as such leads to King David creating a situation where Uriah was to be killed on the battlefield. You can read about it in 2 Samuel 11 and you can read about Nathan confronting King David about his sin in 2 Samuel 12.

Psalm 51 is what King David wrote having confessed to the adultery and murder he committed as God's anointed king. David threw himself at the mercy of Yahweh, and in Psalm 51 we get a glimpse of his broken and contrite heart before the holiness of Yahweh. This psalm is one worthy of study, and worthy of meditation, with several other verses within it that are worthy of memorizing.

What I appreciate about verse 10 is that it sums up the desire of David. A sinner caught in his sin, yet, desiring Yahweh and His ways, while acknowledging that he, David, is guilty, and deserving of God's judgment. Yet, he pleads before Yahweh, seeking not only forgiveness, but a clean heart, and a right spirit. Verse 10 is an excellent verse to meditate on and to repeat in one's head or with one's mouth. This is especially so, when you are struggling with intrustive thoughts and temptations. When you are attempting to shake a sin, an addiction, or flee a temptation. Pray Psalm 51:10 to God, asking Him to work in you, to do what only He is able to do. And as you ask Him, trust Him, believe Him, wait on Him. Consider last's week passage, Psalm 37:4-5. Combine these verses in your struggles and efforts against sin, let Yahweh be your everything, and let Yahweh forgive you, and lead to repentance, but creating in you a clean heart, and renewing a right spirit within you.