Psalm 51:10–19 (ESV)
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Last week and now this week, we are talking about renewing our walk with God. From David’s prayer in Psalm 51, we can learn many things about what it means to renew our walk with God.

Last week, we examined David’s prayer of confession.

Now, we are looking at the results of renewal.

1. GOD GIVES US A NEW MAKEOVER (10)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

2. THE HOLY SPIRIT’S PRESENCE AND EMPOWERMENT RETURNS TO US (11)
“Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.”

3. THE JOY OF GOD’S SALVATION IS RESTORED TO US (12)
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation..”

The time between David’s sin and the prophet Nathan’s confrontation was some months, perhaps as much a year, because the child had already been born. During that time, David suffered inner torment, as he describes in…

Psalm 32:3–4 (ESV)
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.”

In Psalm 51:8, David says, “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.” Even if he may have thought no one else knew what he had done, deep inside he knew that God knew. Yet, he had hardened his heart so that all he experienced was the heavy hand of God upon him, drying up his strength into the heat of meaninglessness.

God is in the bone-crushing business. Despite all the steps David had taken to suppress the news of what he had done, he did not experience joy in the cover-up. However, once he confessed his sin to God, he received forgiveness, and his joy returned. Psalm 32 begins this way:

Psalm 32:1–2 (ESV)
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

And Psalm 32 ends with, “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:11)

When David pleads with God to “restore to me the joy of your salvation,” he is asking that he would again have the fellowship with God that he once knew and enjoyed. David could not enjoy God’s fellowship while he had unconfessed sin.

Even today, we can lose the joy of our salvation. We will not lose salvation—sin will not separate the believer from God—but it can rob us of joy and the enjoyment of close fellowship with our Savior.

Ultimately, the joy is not in our salvation. It is in the Lord’s salvation. When we live in the deliverance of the Lord, we experience His joy.