A Deep Dive into the Themes of Psalm Fifty-One and Its Impact on Spiritual Reflection 2-18-26

Most of this Psalm is highly misunderstood, so let’s take a look and see what benefits us and what does not benefit us. Proper understanding helps us to pass the truth to others.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me (Psalm 51:10).

This is a Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet came to Him after he had adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed to cover his sins. (2 Samuel, chapter 11).

It is erroneous for born again believers to ask the Lord to create in them a clean heart and do not take His Spirit from them. It has nothing to do with us; it is specifically talking about David’s prayer of repentance.

And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).

This is to remind all readers, I am reiterating what has been posted several times. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit did not dwell in the people of God. That could only happen after Jesus died and resurrected from the dead. However, the Spirit of God came upon kings, priests, and prophets to do certain task. When David said to create a clean heart in me, he wanted the Lord to forgive him for his sins. It is a beautiful Psalm and all the verses are wonderful.

For instance, David didn’t do like Adam (Genesis 3:12); he only blamed himself.

What I see is repentance, restoration, and joy. I also see the prodigal son – repentance, restoration, and joy.

David desired to be renewed with steadfastness; that he wanted to stay on course and not waver. When David said, do not cast me away from Your presence, he didn’t want the Lord to leave him. With that being said, didn’t the Word of God say; For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”(Hebrews 13:5).

When He said do not take Your Holy Spirit from me; David felt that because He had sinned, God would not anoint Him with His Spirit to accomplish tasks.

This is pivotal-Some people use this verse to say that God will not dwell in an unclean temple. That part is true, but this doesn’t mean if a person is saved and fall into sin that the Spirit of God leaves them. The verse means God does not dwell in unsaved people. For you are the temple of the living God.

As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (2 Corinthians 6:16)  Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16).

The principle is the same, we need to repent when we fall into sin, but that scripture is not for us, because God said He would never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Jesus said He was and is with us until the end of the world (Matthew 28:20). Not only that, but we are also sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).

Most importantly, this scripture confirms that once a person is saved, they can never lose their salvation- David didn’t say restore my salvation; he said restore the joy of my salvation (he wanted his joy back).

We cannot experience joy when we fall into sin; joy is there when we are in fellowship with our Father. The prodigal (wayward, wasteful) son repented – He was not lost where there was no salvation; this is figuratively of being given up as a spiritually dead man. In other words, the prodigal son was conducting himself like a sinner until he came to his senses (he saw himself) and asked His father to forgive him; that’s when he became spiritually alive again. Repentance, Restoration, and Joy (Luke 15:11-24).

 Take away- This Psalm and Luke 15:11-24 are great to reflect on when we sin, and how we are restored back into fellowship with our Father when we repent.

Next- Once Saved, Always Saved?

Betty A. Burnett ~ burnettministries.org