Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me
(Psalm 51:10)
Tuesday, wonderful Tuesday!
Tuesday is perhaps my favorite day of the week, for Tuesday
is the day the cleaning lady comes! For
going on fifteen years now, she has dutifully arrived at midday each Tuesday
for her two hours of miracle-working. I
take leave before she comes so I don’t see her in action—it’s all somewhat of a
mystery to me how she does it.
But when I return—joy of joys! Every surface is wiped clean! All dust has
been banished! Whatever indignities may have taken hold in the bathroom (to
which I have skillfully averted my eyes all week)—all have disappeared! The sweet scent of lavender disinfectant and
lemony furniture polish wash over me in a fragrant wave when I walk through the front
door, and for a moment…all is well in the world, peaceful alignment has
returned to the universe, and I can take on whatever may come at me for the
rest of the week!
There is something wonderful about a squeaky-clean house, a
spring rain, a hot shower after a day at the beach. A new beginning, a fresh start, a clean
slate! A second chance, or a third…perhaps
too many to count.
Psalm 51 is King David’s ode to a “personal housecleaning.” David is one of my favorite characters in the
Bible. Shepherd and warrior. King of Men and Child of God. Humble in one instance, egomaniacal in the
next. Musician. Murderer.
Best friend. Lover of another man’s
wife. He’s so righteous, so scandalous…so
human!
In the New International Version of the Bible, the preface
to this Psalm reads, “For the director of
music. A Psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after
David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.”
Those familiar with the story recall that David, accustomed
to getting pretty much what he wanted, had an affair with the beautiful Bathsheba, the wife
of Uriah the Hittite. He had admired
her from afar, so he slept with her and then found himself facing the music he
had made: Bathsheba was pregnant. What to do, particularly about the unknowing
husband? The king sent him off to fight
in a no-win battle from which he was destined never to return.
The prophet, Nathan, later confronts David with his own unscrupulous behavior in a masterful twist of storytelling.
The oh-so-human king is laid low by the revelation of his dreadful
deeds—both the affair and the plot to get Uriah out of the picture. “You
are the man!” declares the prophet. There
will be more consequences, Nathan tells him, but also redemption, a second
chance: “The Lord has taken away your sin.
You are not going to die.” (2 Samuel, 12:14).
Psalm 51 is David’s response to his very human
situation. In the midst of the prayer
come some very familiar words: “Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm
51:10).
First, David is saying, “Wipe every surface of my soul
clean. Remove all the dust and
grime. Banish every indignity.” But he doesn’t stop there. Some translations read, “and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” The synonyms for “steadfast” include loyal, committed, and faithful.
David’s fall from grace was the result of tripping over his outsized
ego. Oh, how many times we have all
stumbled over the same obstacle--I know
I have. “I can do it! I am in
control! I have all the power! The world is my oyster!”
Only later do we find that, left solely to our own devices,
we fall short, we fall down, we fall spectacularly. We are laid low, indeed.
David’s prayer is not only to be cleaned, but to stay clean.
The prayer itself is a “making ready.” I confess here to a bit of neurotic behavior—each
Tuesday morning, before the cleaning lady shows up at my house, I scurry
around, straightening up the place before she gets here! I put some things away, pick up here and
there, clean up before she…well, cleans
up! Truth be told, I’ve learned that
many other folks who indulge in the little luxury of having someone come in to
tidy up once a week do exactly the same thing!
So, this verse emerges from an intention of being ready,
willing, and open to being “cleaned up.”
David begins with attitude of willingness and surrender…and concludes
with an intention to keep things in order, cleaned up, fresh and new.
Of course, as we know, there were more highs and lows in David’s
life. And despite our best intentions we, too, fall again and again. On Wednesday
and Thursday, my house still looks mighty shiny…but as the week wears on, the
dust settles, the mirrors are smudged, the floors need to be swept and mopped,
and all the countertops are streaked and dirty.
By the following Tuesday, it’s time for another visit from the “miracle
worker.” How grateful I am that she
keeps coming back! Grateful, indeed!