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At first glance, verse 9 is disconcerting, Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”? I know I sin daily and I know that I am rarely without sin in my life. However, what is not said in this verse is we have a way to attain a pure heart. Jesus’ provided that way. Through the regular confession of sin we are continuously being cleansed. God provides forgiveness of our sin by his mercy when we ask for it. The thing I am missing from my life is the regular confession and repentance of sin as a part of my regular talks with God. It is through that process and continuous building of my relationship with God that I can rely on His moment by moment cleansing of my life.
Daily Devotion 
I was honestly reading through a lot of this proverb, while praying for understanding because it all just kind of breezed by. That is until the end:
Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, As do stripes the inner depths of the heart. (Proverbs 20:30 NKJV)
That one stopped me in my tracks. How often are we quick to pray for safety or in prevention of those types of blows? How often when we’re in the thick of them and can hardly make sense of anything because the hurt is so bad, do we pray for the Lord to take us out of that situation, to heal us, or to fix it?
But once you come up out of it, once the daylight breaks and the waters calm and you’re able to breathe again, do you look back and thank God for what you’ve become as a result of it? I have.
My prayer now is not for deliverance, but perspective.
Nice, Brian!!
So true. We are often more interested in a commodity exchange instead of a life changing relationship. It’s rare to find a person who prays that God strip away all their crap, who prays for a life of holiness. That prayer is scary because usually what follows are those blows. It’s not fun at the time. It’s hard. It’s not the self help of current American Christianity. It’s not religion we feel we can control. It’s an authentic communion with the God of the universe. It’s an adventure. It’s the journey of faith. It’s the daily working out our salvation with the sovereign hand of God guiding us. I used to be more interested in the commodity exchange without knowing it. But through a course of events, I realized what I was doing and I knew that’s not what I or God wanted. My prayers have turned to conversations. My heart has changed. My relationship with lord is deeper, more real. I sense him with me constantly. I’ll take that anytime over a commodity exchange.
Thanks for your thoughts!