Thursday, February 3 – Psalm 51:10
How does God change your heart during prayer?
Create in me a clean heart, God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Have you ever seen a flower grow in the spring and wonder how it happened? Even though we see the external change from something planted in dirt to a beautiful flower, we don’t see the internal transformation that allowed this to happen. This internal work, although invisible to the naked eye, is essential to the process of growth.
The internal work of our souls is God’s specialty. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, He strengthens, sharpens, and sanctifies us. He changes our desires and helps us recognize His authority. This verse describes a true transformation—a literal change of one’s heart and spirit as God’s Holy Spirit takes root within us. While we may not be able to see these things happen under a microscope, slowly but surely, we see this internal change bring fruit in our lives (see Galatians 5:22-23).
This internal change starts with our desire for it to take place. Notice how David asked God to literally create a clean heart within him and to renew a steadfast spirit. David came before God in great humility through prayer, asking to be changed. David acknowledged that his heart and spirit weren’t naturally in a right or healthy place and only the work of God could fix that. Humility in prayer changes us to see life with God as desirable and to submit ourselves to that life, that we might declare along with David, “Create in us a clean heart God! Renew our spirits as well!” This prayer may be scary to us because it takes off the mask of self-righteousness that we often want to hide behind and makes us confront our sin and our place before God. While it may be easier to simply recite a list of requests, it is in these sincere, repentant prayers that we begin to invite God to transform us into His image—which is well worth the sacrifice.
- Have you ever prayed and asked God to change your heart? Why or why not?
- Why is it difficult to come to God in humility?
- Pray this verse with a sincere heart and ask God to transform your heart.
