“Create in Me a Pure Heart, O God”
By Reva Lavhica Moore
Trees enhance the beauty of a house and for this reason, when we built our Denham Springs house 40+ years ago, I insisted on keeping most of the trees on our jungle-like property. The trees also provide shade and keep our house cool during hot Louisiana summers.
However, there is a drawback to having trees. Their roots can cause plumbing problems. So, when our tubs started to drain very slowly and Drano could no longer help, the plumber gave us bad news: a big root had pinch off part of the pipes outside and they needed to be replaced. I thought the pipes had to be dug up and replaced with new ones.
The sound of machinery woke me up on the morning after New Year’s Day. In between the pine trees and the big oak, a crawler excavator had dug up a foot-deep trench several feet long toward the street. Large heaps of fresh dirt were piled up on each side of the trench; it looked like a war zone! The sight of our tore-up yard made me feel really badly.
Every few minutes I would go to the window to check on the work. The man would get off the excavator, and with a manual auger, he would check the ground where he needed to dig.
The next time I checked, new PVC pipes had been placed in the newly dug up trench but I never saw the plumber do his work. How clever, I thought. He didn’t have to dig up the old pipes. He left them buried down in there and placed new pipes in a newly dug up trench.
The last time I went to the window, the excavator was methodically putting the dirt back into the trench. The bucket part picked up, shoved and raked in the dirt into the 40 ft. long trench. Then the excavator’s rubber tracks went over the fresh dirt several times to pack it in. The bottom part of the bucket made the dirt smooth for a final touch.
After everyone left three hours later, I went outside to check on the work. With the dirt back in place, one couldn’t tell that the yard was a place of excavations earlier that morning. And the new pipes in place should mean no plumbing problems in the next 30 years.
Just like the pretty trees, many things in life give instant gratification. But, like the trees’ roots that create plumbing problems, those things can bring us misery and pain. Are you in pain? Do you suffer physically, mentally or emotionally? Does your anxiety, sadness, or suffering overwhelm you? Do you get angry and hurt others out of your own sense of pain? Do you do things that you wish you could stop doing? Are you addicted to things, drugs, etc.? Do you feel there is no way out for you? Is your sorrow so deep within you that you feel hopeless?
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” was the prayer of King David to our loving and merciful God when his problems became too heavy. Create means “make completely new.” Pure means “to be bright, clean, uncontaminated, holy.”
Jesus wants to give us a new heart and His Holy Spirit to be in us. If you want a clean heart and an end to your pain, sorrow or addiction and a new start in 2024, then pray Psalms 51:
“Have mercy on me, O God….Create in me a pure heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
TODAY, my DAILY PRAYER is: “JESUS, please give me YOUR heart, YOUR mind and YOUR character, for I am sinful and I truly need You, Lord. Please fill us all (I mention names) and our homes, our workplace, our vehicles with the HOLY SPIRIT. Amen.”