DEVOTION//Heart creation

Psalm 51:10, Create in me a pure heart, O God.

When David prays in Psalm 51:10, Create in me a pure heart, O God, he uses the same Hebrews word that appears in Genesis 1:1.  "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

"Create" is an interesting Hebrew word. "Barah" is the way it sounds. It means to create from nothing. For that reason, "barah" could not be used to describe Michelangelo's "creation" of his Statue of David. To create his David, Michelangelo started with something, a block of marble that he chip away until David emerged.

God created the universe out of nothing. He didn't create the heavens and the earth by shaping pre-existing matter and energy into the universe. Before the "beginning," nothing existed.

In Psalm 51, David pleads with God to "barah" a pure heart within him. In effect, he says to God, "There is nothing good in my soul. Don't try to reform it or remodel it. Don't build something new on it. Raze it. Annihilate it. Then, out of the nothingness that remains, create a pure heart within me, a heart that always beats in rhythm with your heart, Lord."

David's prayer is a fine prayer to lead us through another Advent season. The weeks before celebrating our Savior’s birth call us to prepare for the his coming. That preparation comes from

• recognizing the spiritual deadness of our human hearts,

• repenting for our sinfulness, and

• rejoicing in the forgiveness that God's Son comes to guarantee us. 

The best preparation for Jesus’ coming is to pray with David, "Lord, create from nothing a new heart within me, a heart that loves you completely, a heart that is committed to living for you alone."