David sinned. David experienced the weight of guilt. David’s sin was exposed. David lost a steadfast spirit. David lost joy and a willing spirit. Sin devastates a believer in Jesus. The consequences of sin should not be ignored.
David asked God to create a pure heart in him. “Create” is “bara” in the original Hebrew. David wants God to make something new that cannot emerge from what now is and which only God can fashion. He sees the flaw of the current heart, which is prone to sin. A heart that is now unclean. David is asking for a pure heart. A pure heart that experienced the delights of the Holy Spirit.
David personally knows what happened to Saul when the Holy Spirit left him because of sin. He saw the degradation and decadence that turned evil towards everyone he loved and loved him. He saw an evil spirit replace the Holy Spirit in Saul’s soul. (1 Samuel 16:1, 12; 2 Samuel 7:15) The essence of the Holy Spirit is everything to Jesus people. As Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)