Cleanse Me


Prayer: Dear Lord God, the only righteous and just One, “have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” Teach me how to pray these Words from Psalm 51 today and every day. Make me ever aware of my need for a Savoir so that I might always look to You alone. In the name of Jesus, my dear Lord, I pray. Amen.

Read: Psalm 51
http://www.esvbible.org/Psalm 51:1-19

Think about It: After King David had become well established in his reign over Israel, he became caught in a downward slide into the depths of sin and depravity. He took another man’s wife and when his sin with her could not be covered up, he had that man killed. It is a dark blot on David’s life that causes us some confusion, but also allows us to relate to this man who was called “a man after God’s own heart.” (1 Samuel 13:14) When he was confronted, he is cut to the heart with the power of his own sin and pens Psalm 51 in confession and sorrow. That Psalm stands for us today as an unmatchable example of what it means to truly recognize our sinfulness and our need for God’s forgiveness. We read this Psalm every year during the Lenten season as we too walk that path of repentance.

While the entire Psalm is worthy of study and meditation, space allows room for only a few comments. Beginning with verses 1-3, we find 3 different words used to describe our wrong-doing.  

Transgression – Sin – Iniquity.
Transgressions are an ugly blotch on a page or an entry of a debt which must be blotted out; expunged from the record 

Iniquity is like a filthy garment which must be washed thoroughly. In ancient times this required vigorous action. Clothes were beaten on flat stones in a stream or were trampled to loosen the dirt. 

Sin is a stain which “lye” and “much soap” cannot remove; it yields only to God’s cleansing action.*

Why three words to describe the same thing? Because we tend to shrug our shoulders and say “oh well” when it comes to sin! God is not kidding here. Our sin is serious to Him; serious enough to drag us into hell should we not claim the blood of Jesus to cover those sins.

Also of interest in light of this week’s theme of cleansing are verses 7 & 10. “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean.” and “Create in me a pure her, O God.” Hyssop was used during the Passover in Egypt as a ‘paintbrush’ if you will for the Children of Israel to dip into the blood of the sacrificed lamb to paint the doorpost of their homes. This kept them safe from the Angel of Death as God meted out His judgment against the Egyptians.  Because of that initial introduction, hyssop is used throughout the Bible in instances where cleansing is needed. And finally, we are asking God to create a new and clean heart within us, for only He is able to do that. In the blood of Jesus we are made new, clean, and holy. Those transgressions, sins, and iniquities are gone under the power of God’s gracious and forgiving act of redemption in Jesus Christ.

Read Psalm 51 again. It will inform your character and change your heart as only God’s Word is able to do.

*©1998, Roehrs, W. H., & Franzmann, M. H., Concordia Self-Study Commentary St. Louis: CPH.

Prayer: “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” (Psalm 51:11-12)

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