Aside from the first five books and the Book of Job, the rest of the Old Testament deals exclusively with the interaction of the nation of Israel within itself, with God, and with other humans. In the form of verbal snapshots, the bulk of the Old Testament clearly shows us that the Law that God had given Moses did not really change the behavior of Jacob’s descendants. Like their forefathers, the Israelites were unable to completely overcome destructive behaviors. Nowhere is this more evident than in the life of David, whom Samuel had described as a man after God’s own heart (I Samuel 13:14). At one point in his reign as King of Israel, David intentionally broke the Law that he had loved and adhered to throughout his life.  In II Samuel 11:1-12:15, we read of the events that brought David to his knees–he intentionally committed adultery with Bathsheba who became pregnant and he intentionally caused the death of her husband. Horrible, horrible actions for one who worshipped God, yet God was ready to make good out of this great evil. He sent Nathan to David and drove the point home that David’s actions were egregious and deserving of death. David’s immediate reaction to Nathan’s message were the words, “I have sinned against the Lord”–once he understood what he had done, David lost no time in repenting.

     Did you catch the words, “once he understood what he had done?” Herein was the main downfall of the Law–while it laid out the unaccetable behaviors and their consequences, the Law could not give humans understanding of how things worked. The great “How?” is the difference between overcoming destruction and becoming a victim of destruction. In David’s case, he clearly had no idea of what God thought about what he was doing. Probably, from his own standpoint, David could justify what he did because he gave Bathsheba’s husband every opportunity to claim her child as his own–Uriah simply would not leave his post as David’s “servant” to cleave to his own wife. What was a king to do? Well, what David evidently didn’t do was to seek God for his answers. 

     David ended up paying a steep price for ignoring the only One who could have  helped him. But, once Nathan spoke, David–the man after God’s own heart–did not reject God’s rebuke, but instead ran into His arms. David’s prayer is found in Psalm 51, and that prayer was exactly what God needed some human being to pray. David realized that God had had nothing to do with his transgression and that his problem was an inner problem–there was something missing that kept him from the truth. David’s words in verse six brought focus to this lack: “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.” Somehow the wisdom that God gives was absent within David. As he realized his lack of truth, David went on to speak the words that opened the door for Christ to come (verses 10-12, 16-17):

Create within me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit…

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

David got it! He understood that the Law was not the answer to sin–God’s wisdom was. And, David understood that the only way a human can receive wisdom from God starts with a broken and contrite heart and continues with a new creation by God on the inside of that same human being.

     From David’s prayer, God was able to make a promise first to Israel and then extended it to the whole human race through Christ. Hear His promise from Ezekiel 36:26-27:

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

I will put My Spirit  within you and cause you to walk in my statues, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

A similar promise came through another prophet:

“…But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,” for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greates of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”     (Jeremiah 31:33-34)

This promise of God would open the door to a new reality for the human race. Because of David’s prayer, God was able to turn the man’s terrible actions into a stepping stone for the gift of His son, Jesus Christ. With that prayer, God gained the right to make the way to do just what David asked Him to–the coming of Christ was the key to the new heart and the new spirit to being created within humans and to the Holy Spirit living within those same people.

     From this point in our ongoing discussion, we are going to leave the Old Testament and to consider just how God accomplished what David prayed for. Of course, we will start with Jesus Christ and just who He is.

     All scripture passages in this post are from the NASB. Please feel free to comment–just be respectful!

 

     ©2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.