Ps. 51.12 (constancy)

“Restore to me / the joy of your salvation – and let a willing spirit / empower me.” One thing we have not pointed out in previous verses but has been present is the fact that David desires not only a present form of cleansing and renewal, but implores God to also provide him the ability to remain in covenantal fidelity to him. Vs. 10 has this dynamic: “Create for me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Likewise, the same here: Restoration to salvation and then the maintenance of that through a ‘willing spirit’ that empowers him. This desire on David’s part is a natural insight of his based on his experience of his own rebellion and his ‘sinfulness since birth’. For David, simply being ‘forgiven’ is not nearly enough. Rather, it is the necessary but only preliminary step. He needs to be empowered to remain. And this is not merely a strengthening of his own spirit. Rather, as we have argued, the spirit that David seeks is the empowering spirit of God (his ‘holy spirit’). Just as every anointed prophet and king has the spirit of God ‘poured out on him’, so too does David seek to have this same spirit poured into him so that he can maintain his fidelity to God; so that, in other words, he can stay within his presence and not be an object of banishment. I do think that this request on his part grows out of his experience of rebellion and, more particularly, his conception of his rebellion from the womb. Unlike a ‘steadfast spirit’, David seems to see his own spirit as one not of constant fidelity but constancy in rebellion. This may have culminated in a dramatic moment of rebellion but that revelation only displayed to David his life-long commitment to waywardness. His sin was not a ‘one-off’ deal but a culmination or exemplar of his entire life.