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9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.    Remove the stain of my guilt.10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.    Renew a loyal spirit within me.11 Do not banish me from your presence,    and don’t take your Holy Spirit[a] from me.12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,    and make me willing to obey you. Verse 10 - Because we are born sinners (51:5), our natural inclination is to please ourselves rather than God. David followed that inclination when he took another man’s wife. Like David, we must ask God to cleanse us from within 51:7), filling our hearts and spirits with new thoughts and desires. Right conduct can come only from a clean heart and spirit. Ask God to create a pure heart and spirit in you.Versed 12 - Do you ever feel stagnant in your faith, as though you are just going through the motions? Has sin ever driven a wedge between you and God, making him seem distant? David felt this way. He had sinned with Gathsheba and had just been confronted by Nathan the prophet. In his prayer he cried, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.” God wants us to be close to him and to experience his full and complete life. But sin that remains unconfessed makes such intimacy impossible, Confess your sin to God. You may still have to face some earthly consequences, as David did, but God will give back the joy of your relationship with him.--- Life Application Study Bible notes