A Clean Heart

It is difficult to discern what lies in the heart of another person. We often get it wrong and misjudge the hidden motivation and secret desires of others. We get disappointed when we discover a character flaw in someone which we did not know existed, or, alternatively, we are taken by surprise when we find a sweetness, goodness and purity in someone which we never suspected was there.

It is only God who can really understand the inner being or the heart of us all. We can be self-deceived, and not know when we have a blind spot. ‘The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve’ (Jeremiah 17:9-10, NLT).

Samuel was thinking he had to anoint Eliab to be the next king of Israel, but he was wrong. ‘But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”’ (1 Samuel 16:7).

King David was chosen because he was a man after God’s own heart. The apostle Paul explained this when he preached at Antioch. ‘Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do”’ (Acts of the Apostles 13:21-22).

I’m sure God knew David would sin greatly, but then He must also have known that David would repent greatly and desire to be obedient to Him. David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10, ESV).

He also prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24).

This reminds me of a beautiful song written by Eddie Espinosa in 1982 as he was driving to work one day. He wanted to get closer to God but there were some things in his life that were not pleasing to God. He prayed this prayer out loud, “God, do something. I need you to change my heart”. Then right away a song came into his mind and, when he got to work, he wrote down the words. That night he taught his new song to the Bible study group which met in his home and they told the pastor about it. Eventually it became known all the over the world.

Maybe we could make the words of this song our prayer too.