Casandra Martin

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” – Psalm 51:10

Creation is God’s great act of delight. In Genesis 1 and 2, God takes a formless and vacant world and fills with it with a symphony of beauty. Light floods across the cosmos. Waters sparkle next to beaches. Giant whales take their place next to microscopic krill as the oceans teem with life. Vegetation, fruit, flowers, trees, and grasses paint the land with their subtle colors and splashes of joy. The sun, moon, and stars take their place in the sky, lining up like dancers waiting to move across the heavens.

God speaks, and creation explodes across the canvas of the universe. He fills every corner with His purpose, displaying His power and showcasing His passion. Creation points us to His heart. It declares His glory and sings His praise. It stands as a reminder of His tender care and intimate involvement in every part of our lives. What He forms, He fills. What He shapes, He sanctifies. What He creates, He consecrates.

David looks at his heart, blackened by sin, and asks God to create within him a new heart, a clean heart, a whole heart. When we ask God to create a clean heart within us, we are doing more than asking for a blank slate. When God creates, He pours His heart into it. He fills it with Himself. He shapes it for His glory, transforming it for His purposes. When we ask Him to create a clean heart within us, we are asking for all the power revealed in Genesis 1 and 2 to be unleashed inside of us. We are asking for light to replace darkness, for order to rise out of chaos, and for fullness to overflow into what was empty and formless.

My Jesus Resolution today is to pray David’s prayer. My heart echoes David’s cry. I look at my misguided choices, misplaced motives, and misdirected ambitions and know that I need a clean heart. One that will mirror His character, echo His desires, and reverberate with His grace. In asking the Creator to work within me, I am asking for doubt to give way to delight, guilt to flee before the power of grace, and barrenness to be transformed by beauty.