David was a godly man; the Holy Spirit had been at work in his soul. When that work began we do not know, but it must have been early in his life. Through the work of the Spirit, David was born again; spiritual life was breathed into his soul, a soul that had been dead in trespasses and sins up to that point. He at once received God’s testimony as to the way of salvation. He could see that every sacrifice offered to God was a substitute for the sinner for whom it was offered; in the light of these sacrifices, David looked by faith on to the promised Messiah as the Substitute who could truly take away sin. He could say, “I trusted in Thee, O Lord” (Ps 31:14).
In that particular context, David seems to be speaking about deliverance from temporal trouble, but we can be sure that he would express himself in the same way when thinking about the salvation of his soul. We have the testimony of Scripture that “David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that He commanded him all the days of his life . . .” (1 Ki 15:5). Through the Holy Spirit continuing to work in his soul, David went on desiring to do what was right, desiring to keep God’s commands.
Yet the commendation of David just quoted comes with a sad exception: “save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite”. David sinned, and sinned grievously, in his adultery with Uriah’s wife and in arranging for Uriah to be killed. Given that the Spirit had been at work savingly in David’s soul, that work could never come to an end. So David’s sin was followed by sincere repentance, which is to be seen clearly in Psalm 51. Among the petitions he sent up to heaven as he wrote that Psalm is this: “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me” (v 11).
When he prayed like this, was David thinking back to his predecessor, King Saul? Scripture tells us: “The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him” (1 Sam 16:14). But when the Holy Spirit came upon Saul, it was not to work savingly in his soul, but to bestow upon him gifts which made him more fit to carry out the duties of his office as king. And these non-saving gifts were later withdrawn.
Or did David think of Samson? He was granted the gift of physical strength in a supernatural degree. And he truly was one of God’s children; he carried out these unique feats of strength “by faith” (Heb 11:32), no doubt through the power of the Spirit. But when he revealed the secret of his strength to Delilah, he lost it; the Spirit was taken away, no longer continuing that gift of strength, while not withdrawing altogether His saving operations in Samson’s soul.
Matthew Henry comments, David “knew he had by his sin grieved the Spirit and provoked Him to withdraw, and that, because he also was flesh, God may justly have said that His Spirit should no more strive with him nor work upon him (Gen 6:3). This he dreads more than anything. We are undone if God [will] take His Holy Spirit from us. Saul was a sad instance of this. How exceedingly sinful, how exceedingly miserable, was he when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him! David knew it, and therefore [in effect] thus begs earnestly: Lord, whatever Thou take from me, my children, my crown, my life, yet take not Thy Holy Spirit from me, but continue Thy Holy Spirit with me, to perfect the work of my repentance, to prevent my relapse into sin, and to enable me to discharge my duty both as a prince and as a psalmist.
Yes, God might justly have withdrawn His Spirit entirely from David, but that could not happen; it is always true that where He has “begun a good work” in an individual’s soul, He will continue it to the end (Phil 1:6). There was a period of time when David “kept silence,” and his “bones waxed old through [his] roaring all the day long” (Ps 32:3). We may see, in this, the Lord withdrawing His Spirit – in particular, as the Spirit of prayer – not entirely, but to a large extent. It was a time of winter in David’s soul; yet – as in nature, so in grace – winter was followed by a spiritual springtime. It was according to the Psalmist’s words: “Thou sendest forth Thy spirit . . . and Thou renewest the face of the earth” (Ps 104:30). There was a spiritual reviving in David’s soul; the Spirit of prayer was restored to him. Hence “the sweet Psalmist of Israel” was able to send up to heaven the repeated petitions in Psalm 51 – the petitions of a gracious man in whom the Spirit continued working in many ways.
Clearly the petition, “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me”, is one that every believer needs to use, and not only when they have been guilty of specially serious sins. The desertion that David experienced was part of God’s chastisement following his particular sins, but the Lord may hide His face (that is, His favour) by way of trial. George Horne states that “rejection from the presence, and desertion by the Spirit, of God is the most deplorable and irremediable effect of sin, but it is one that in general perhaps is the least considered and regarded of all others”.1 How earnestly then every believer ought always to plead that the Lord would not take away His Holy Spirit at any time or to any degree!
The believer should rather seek the continuing work of the Spirit in his soul so that he may make progress on the road to heaven. His growth in grace is the result of the Spirit’s continuing work in his soul, particularly in applying to him the truths of God’s Word. Apart from that work, the believer’s spiritual condition will deteriorate. How necessary for him to go on pleading with God for the Spirit’s blessing on all the means of grace!
There is every encouragement in the Word of God for believers to seek for the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in their souls. Especially we have Christ’s calls: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”. Here, with each of the commands – ask, seek, knock – there is an assurance of being heard. Christ further encourages those who ask, seek and knock to expect an answer because of the readiness of human fathers to answer the cries of their children: “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” And the Saviour clenches His argument by pointing to the readiness of God to answer prayer for the Holy Spirit, in particular: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Lk 11:9-13).
But unbelievers also benefit from the common operations of the Holy Spirit – that is, His work that is common to both the converted and the unconverted – particularly in restraining them from sin and making them willing to continue making use of the means of grace. What need the unconverted have to pray, “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me”! What need they have to plead with the Lord that the Spirit would continue to restrain them from going further into sin than they do, and to keep them from turning away from the means of grace, such as public worship, reading the Bible and prayer. These common operations of the Spirit are not saving; therefore the unconverted should also plead for the Holy Spirit so to come upon them that He would apply the truths of God’s Word to them and give them spiritual life in their souls. Then they would believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved.
1 Quoted in William S Plumer, Psalms, Banner of Truth reprint, 1975, p 564. Horne (1730-1792) was a Bishop of Norwich. C H Spurgeon, in his Commenting and Commentaries, speaks of Horne’s piety and notes that “he is among the best of our English writers” on the Psalms.