6.24.2026 - Lisa Liou

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Psalm 51:10

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Today’s passage comes from David’s famous Psalm of contrition after he finally admits his sin.

The backdrop is a dramatic encounter between David and Nathan where Nathan confronts

David’s behavior through a parable. The parable about a rich man who takes a lamb from the

poor man, evokes a response from David. After he hooks David’s heart, Nathan tells him, “You

are that man!” (2 Samuel 12:7).

What flows from that formerly resistant and unrepentant heart of David’s is one of the most

beautiful Psalms about the process of confession and repentance. In it, he cries out to God for

mercy and asks for cleansing. Part of what he envisions is the recreation of a clean heart and a

renewal of a steadfast spirit. It’s interesting that David had less information about the Holy Spirit

than we do, but he still understood that God renews, restores, and recreates.

Part of confession is believing that God can wipe the slate clean and let us start over. The Holy

Spirit makes our heart new not only when we first come to faith, but again and again when we

come in repentance. Even though David had not been steadfast in his journey with God, the

Spirit can restore that fervor and focus in David’s life once again.

Since my childhood, I have been interested in the meaning of names. I think it’s because my

parents had that book for choosing baby names and I would often thumb through it.

Like many kids, I did not appreciate my own name at the time and found various other names I

liked better. But, in time, I have come to appreciate the meaning of my name. Pertinent to our

renewal theme this week is my middle name: Renee. Renee is the French word for born again,

or, literally, reborn. I guess it’s a pretty good name after all and it’s fitting for today’s passage.

That prefix re- means again. David is asking for his heart and his spirit to be new and set apart

to God, again. Confession is something we need to do daily, some would even say hourly,

because we stray. But, even more importantly, the Spirit offers us constant renewal and rebirth

as we turn from our sin and seek restoration.

Spend some time asking the Spirit to show you any areas of your life where you need to

confess your sins. After you confess them, trust that you have been given access to full renewal

in the Spirit.