"Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." (Psalm 51:7 NIV)
Back in the day, a housewife doing her weekly laundry the good old-fashioned
way knew when her clothes were clean. Through various iterations of laundry
methods -- from washing clothes on the riverbank, to using a washtub and
scrub board, or using a wringer washer requiring a tub for rinsing clothes
after the wash cycle -- clear water would have been evidence that clothes
were clean. Today's Cadillac-version washing machines are so automated that
dirt is magically whisked away with no reminder of the dirt that had been
present. Dirty clothes are put into the washing machine and come out
spotless.
I once had the use of a small, portable-sized washing machine that
emphasized this point. Rolling the small appliance up to the kitchen sink, I
hooked it up to the faucet and draped the drain hose into the sink. As the
load of laundry churned away, the dirty water draining away in the spin
cycle was proof positive that soil that might not have even been visible to
the eye was indeed there. Clothes that seemed superficially “clean” actually
contained hidden dirt that clearly came out in the wash.
So it is with our lives. On the surface, we may appear to be moral, ethical,
upstanding citizens. Others may see a smiling face and kind actions. God,
however, knows the deep secrets of our hearts -- secrets that we may be
successful in hiding even from ourselves.
King David learned this lesson the hard way. He thought that he had hidden
his sin of adultery with Bathsheba from the world, but God used the prophet
Nathan to reveal to David that his sin was no secret from God. David's
prayer of repentance shows us that he was truly broken and contrite, not
just sorry that he'd been found out: "Create in me a new, clean heart, O
God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires." (Psalm 51:10 TLB) It was
only then that God could do His work of cleaning up the mess. God's loving
praise of David is validation that David had made true peace with God.
"I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart." (Acts 13:22b
NIV)
May we also be open and honest before God, asking Him to search out the
deepest crevices of our heart and to clean them thoroughly. Only then can we
know peace and total communion with Him.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting." (Psalm 139:23-24 NIV)
Prayer: Dear loving Father, You know our hearts far better than we do, and
You see sin that we might try to hide from others — as well as ourselves.
Convict us, and draw us back into fellowship with You as we confess and
repent of our sin. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Gail Lundquist
Portland, Oregon, USA
Reprinted from the
PresbyCan Daily Devotional
with the author's permission
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