Clean From the Source

If you turned on the water in your kitchen and black sludge poured out, would replacing the faucet fix the problem? Obviously not. You could install the most beautiful brushed-nickel fixture money can buy, and the sludge would keep coming. The problem isn't the faucet. It's the source.

Our hearts work the same way. The heart is the source of our attitudes toward God, and whatever is in the heart eventually comes out. If you sit down to thank God and only dark and bitter thoughts come to mind, going to church or putting on your Sunday clothes might help a little. But that's just replacing the faucet. There's a deeper problem that needs attention.

Thanksgiving that is real and pure doesn't start with our words. It starts with the condition of our hearts. So before we can offer God the thanks He deserves, we need to ask an honest question: What is the condition of my heart right now?

Invite God to Look

If the heart is the source, then the solution is to deal with the heart. David shows us how.

Read the opening of Psalm 26: "Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind" (26:1–2).

Before David gets to any words of thanksgiving, he asks God to examine his heart. That's the first step for us, too. We can't clean what we won't look at, and we often don't see our own hearts clearly. We're very good at excusing ourselves, comparing ourselves to others and ignoring what we'd rather not face. God sees what we miss. So the place to start is a simple, honest prayer: "Lord, test my heart and my mind. Show me what's really there."

And notice the confidence in David's tone. He asks God to prove him, try him and test him. Here was a man who had no doubt at all about what God would find: integrity.

Know What God Is Looking For

What does a clean heart look like? David answers that in Psalm 24. "Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully" (24:3–4).

As you let God examine your heart, here are some good questions to ask. Are there places where my actions and my desires don't line up? Have I lifted up my soul to something false, whether it's money, approval, comfort or something else that has taken God's place? Have I been honest in my words?

This might sound like an impossible standard to follow. But David, of all people, could tell you that walking in integrity doesn't mean we will never fail. David knew that very well. But integrity isn't the same as perfection. It means taking the necessary steps to deal with our sin when God shows it to us. David sinned, true, but David also repented. He confessed, and he allowed God to make him clean again. After his darkest failure, he prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).

That is how a heart gets clean.

Fill the Heart With What Is Good

Cleaning the well is only the first step. A clean well also needs to be filled with fresh, pure water. In the same way, a heart set right with God needs to be filled with good things. The Psalms point to several ways to set our heart right with God and to fill it with His goodness.

1. Confidence (Psalm 46). "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (46:1). The psalmist was confident in God even with the earth giving way and the mountains falling into the sea. A heart full of anxiety has a hard time giving thanks. A heart that rests in God can "be still, and know" that He is God (46:10).

2. Trust (Psalm 12). David wrote this psalm when it seemed everyone around him was lying and flattering. Against all of that he says: "The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times" (12:6). David had a deep love and appreciation for the words of God that he knew were priceless.

3. Hope (Psalm 116). "I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy" (116:1). The psalmist is certain God hears him, and that certainty leads straight to gratitude: "What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD" (116:12–13).

None of these are things we work up on our own. Confidence, trust, and hope all grow in us as we spend time with God and remember who He is and what He has done.

Let God Restore Your Soul

One of the best ways to spend that time is in the most familiar passage in the Bible. "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul" (Psalm 23:1–3).

Imagine for a moment that Psalm 23 were the only portion of the Bible we had. What could we learn about God from these six verses alone? We would know that He provides, that He leads, that He restores, that He walks with us through the darkest valley and that His goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives.

Try using Psalm 23 as a template for your prayers. Go through it verse by verse and let each line shape what you say to God. Thank Him for being your shepherd. Ask Him to lead you beside still waters and to restore your soul. Starting from what God has already said about Himself is one of the surest ways to let Him refresh a tired or troubled heart.

Thanksgiving From a Clean Heart

Now look at what happens in Psalm 26 once David's heart has been examined. "I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O LORD, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds" (26:6–7).

Clean hands, then thanksgiving. Once David's heart was set right, the thanksgiving could flow out clean and pure. Jesus said it this way: "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good … for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). Or, as James asks, "Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?" (James 3:11). A clean source gives clean water.

That's the lesson for us. We don't manufacture gratitude by trying harder to sound thankful. We let God examine our hearts, we deal honestly with what He finds, we fill our hearts with what is good, and then the praise follows naturally.

Many of us may not be the most decorative of faucets. Some of us carry deep scars and bruises from a troubled past, and our lives look a little dented and tarnished on the outside. But as with so many things in life, it's what's on the inside that counts. God isn't looking for polished fixtures. He's looking for clean hearts, and He is the One who makes them clean.

So this week, start at the source. Ask God to test your heart and your mind. Confess what He shows you, and trust Him to make you clean. Then offer Him your thanks, aloud and with your whole heart. You can come to Him with confidence, because a heart He has cleaned is a heart that can give Him pure thanksgiving. Like David, you'll find your cup overflowing (Psalm 23:5).