TUESDAY 13th
Psalm 51
NIV (v7) – ‘Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.’
ESV (v7) – ‘Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.’
This psalm is a psalm of David, and it is a psalm in which he recognises he has sinned, and he comes to God in repentance, he comes for cleansing, he comes in brokenness knowing that God can and will forgive him, God can and will wash him clean and God can and will make him whole again.
Spend some time reading and mediating upon this whole psalm today, I know that predominantly this devotion is written for those who attend our Church fellowship, but it is also available and read by others on the internet and I challenge each one to consider their own life in light of what this psalm is all about, for no matter who we are, we are all born in sin, we are all guilty before a righteous God, but One came to take our place and to bring us back into a right relationship with God, that One is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as David acknowledged his sin before God, we too need to acknowledge we are sinners, we need to confess our sin and we need to believe by faith that what Christ has done at calvary is sufficient to wash us and to cleanse us and to make us anew, to make us into new creations, (2 Corinthians 5:17) to allow us to have a fresh start. In verse 7 of this psalm, David prays, ‘Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.’ In Isaiah 1:18, God gives the invitation, ‘“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”’ It matters not who we are or what we may have done, God still offers the same invitation, he invites you to come to the Cross, the place where his Son shed his precious blood, blood that has the power to cleanse and to make whole. I have included a hymn in this devotion, a hymn which you can use as a prayer, a prayer of coming to God in repentance, of acknowledging your need to be made anew. If you make a commitment of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, as it says in the final verse it is a life-long commitment and to help you continue it is good to find a healthy Church to attend where you can have Christian fellowship and help to disciple you as a new believer.
Maybe someone is reading this who sometime in the past made the choice to follow Jesus, but over the last years or months you may have lapsed in that relationship, you have distanced yourself from the Lord Jesus Christ, you may have fallen back into the manner of your old sinful nature, in verse 12, David cries out, ‘Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.’ Make this your prayer as you come back to the Lord Jesus Christ, allow him to restore your relationship with him and the joy that comes in living for him.
Wash me, O Lamb of God,
Wash me from sin;
By thine atoning blood,
Oh, make me clean;
Purge me from ev’ry stain,
Let me thine image gain,
In love and mercy reign
O’er all within.
Wash me, O Lamb of God,
Wash me from sin;
I long to be like thee,
All pure within;
Now let the crimson tide,
Shed from thy wounded side,
Be to my heart applied,
And make me clean.
Wash me, O Lamb of God,
Wash me from sin;
I will not, cannot rest
Till pure within;
All human skill is vain,
But thou canst cleanse each stain
Till not a spot remain,
Made wholly clean.
Wash me, O Lamb of God,
Wash me from sin;
By faith thy cleansing blood
Now makes me clean;
So near thou art to me,
So sweet my rest in thee,
Oh, blessed purity!
Saved, saved from sin.
Wash me, O Lamb of God,
Wash me from sin;
Thou, while I trust in thee,
Wilt keep me clean;
Each day to thee I bring
Heart, life, yea, ev’rything;
Saved while to thee I cling,
Saved from all sin.