Friday April 7, 2023
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
The psalmist speaks here of renewal. And in so doing touches upon an important thing in our lives.
All life has this in common: it continues only as long as it is renewed and dies as soon as renewal ceases. Daily renewal is vital to our Christian life in more ways than one.
In the first place, our life would cease growing if it were not renewed.
In the second place, we should be rendered incapable of doing Christian work.
We see this very clearly in the case of sick people. As their power of physical renewal diminishes, because of illness, their strength wanes until they at last can do no work at all. They must sit down. Finally they must go to bed.
There are many Christians who, because their spiritual selves have not been renewed, have become so weak that they cannot do anything for the Lord.
This shows, in the third place, how important daily renewal is in connection with our eternal salvation. Life that is not renewed dies. It is no doubt a question whether most of the people who have fallen away from the Lord have not died from lack of nutrition. Their falling away may have manifested itself in various ways outwardly, but fundamentally their backsliding was due to neglect of daily renewal. By that we mean a neglect of the means of grace: the Word, prayer, the Lord’s Supper, and the communion of saints.
There is no little difficulty connected with daily renewal. Everything pertaining to our daily life is on the whole difficult. Repetition has a dulling effect.
Therefore it is necessary for us to pray as the psalmist did: “Renew a right spirit within me.” We must receive new and fresh grace and not live on old experiences of God’s mercy. There is nothing the Lord would rather do for us. He says: “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.”
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 