I remember in summer camp getting out of the shower and feeling just as sweaty and dirty as when I got into it. The humidity has a lot to do with that since the camp that I attended was in West Tennessee and every day was hot and humid even without the added humidity of the bathhouse. I get the feeling though that everyone has had a moment or a time in their lives where they did not feel clean enough. It might have come from something that you did or that someone did to you, but that feeling of not being clean enough can affect everyone’s mental and spiritual health at some point.
David felt the same way in Psalm 51 which takes place after David’s sin was declared by Nathan. In verses 7-9, David writes, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.” This is a sentiment that I feel most people, if not everyone, at some point can relate with. David’s sin was clear, and he was told what the punishment would be. But the only one that would make him feel clean again would be God. David here talks about hyssop which was a part of a “soap” recipe that was given in Exodus 12:22 and is used in several different cleansing rituals that the Jews would perform. David felt as if his sin was so severe though that he had never been clean, to begin with.
When David realized this, he turned to the only one that he thought could make him clean again, God. In the same way, when we feel filthy and dirty, we need to turn to God. David continues in the Psalm, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” David was begging God to clean him and make him the way that he once was. He wanted God to stay with him and not leave him. He wanted t new heart to do the will of God. David’s plea here echoes the pleas that we often say to God as well. When we feel like we are not good enough for the work that God would have us to do, or we feel like there is no way for us to be good enough for God, we cry out these same words
The good news is that we have this forgiveness that David sought after. Romans 3:21-26 says, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Since we have all sinned and fallen short of what God would have us to do, we needed Jesus to come and purchase us from our sins. Now that Jesus has come and paid the price for sins, we are washed clean. We have forgiveness that was not available to us before and we can be clean again. Notice that weird word propitiation in that passage? It is a word that we would not use today, but it means for one thing to be put in the place of another. Jesus is our propitiation, he is put in our place, for sin.
Since our sins are taken by Jesus and we don’t have to bear them anymore, we should rejoice because we can be clean again. We may feel like we don’t deserve it, but Jesus was willing to pay that price so that we can be clean again. We don’t have to feel dirty anymore, but we can rejoice that we were washed with the blood of Christ and now live a clean and happy life serving God.
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