Repentance

Scripture passage: Psalms 51: 10, ¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Everyone remembers the history behind the verses. King David desires Bathsheba ( 2 Samuel 11: 1-3). There was no sin in David looking at the woman. But Satan enters him and he asks his messengers to get her. Due to Satan’s workings his eyes pollute his mind and ensnare him in the trap of lust. He desires her and wants her for himself. A person who has self-control and faith only can defeat the evil plans of Satan. Those who are unable to do so fall into Satan’s evil trap.

From being a shepherd, God blessed David and he became a king with wealth, provinces, and several wives. Even then his desires were not quenched. He slept with Uriah’s wife and had him killed. Man’s evil desires lead him to temptations. A man should learn to be satisfied with what they have. Instead of looking at the wealthy, one should look at how the poor live. While eating food, instead of complaining and criticizing the food, just think about how many people go hungry every day. The rich and wealthy even when living in palaces, desire more wealth and palaces. Instead, wait and think of those who have no shelter and live in the open or on the streets.

David committed a sin. When prophet Nathan reminds him of his sin, David begs two things from God- A pure heart and steadfast spirit. This enables him to pray for the less privileged. Satan cannot work in a pure heart. (Genesis 4:7,⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”)

Temptations are always before us. For a child of God with a pure heart, he/she will know God and walk in His path. In a pure heart resides the laws of God. God gives a pure heart to know Him and recognize Him. (Jeremiah 24:7,⁷ I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.)

Jeremiah 31:33, ³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Psalms 73:1, ¹ Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

David secondly asks God to give him a steadfast spirit (Matthew 26:41, ⁴¹ “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”) So to renew spirit and to strengthen it one must pray with his/her whole heart. There is no child of God without the Holy Spirit. But do we prepare our body to receive the spirit. It desires to stay within us forever. Due to evil thoughts and temptations from Satan, will the Spirit leave us?? Are we eager to pray?? Have our conscience been pricked by the Spirit?? The Lord says in Matthew 5: 3, ³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Along with a religious Christian living, confession of sins and repentance is given high importance by Christ to transform into a new creation. This spiritual thirst, or poverty, in other words, leads to the realization of impoverished spirit without Christ. One with a vulnerable and unstable heart is easy to fall into the clutches of temptations. For this, it is essential to have a steadfast spirit. There is only one who can give us a new spirit, the one who resides in the spirit.

Would you also plead to the Lord Almighty like David to be blessed with a pure heart and new steadfast spirit????