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Psalm 51:7 – Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. (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.
Acts 13:22b – I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart. (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.
Psalm 139:23-24 – 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. (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.
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Thanks for the encouraging words, Gail.
Thanks, Gail. Excellent example to help us remember.
Amen Gail.
Blessings.
So true. Good writing. Thank you. Keep well in these trying times.
Hi Gail, This is a good reminder to keep short accounts with God who knows all about us but loves us just the same.
Dear Gail. Many thanks.
“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32)
Blessings.
Dear Gail,
Thank you for the encouraging devotional and the analogy of washing clothes – very good way of looking at it. Many blessings.
I say Amen to this devotional Gail.
God bless for sharing.
Truly, We can cover our sins, and nobody may Know, but we cannot hide it from God.
Hello Gail,
Thank you for another special devotional. Yes, our Lord certainly is ever watching over us and knows if we might even think of going astray and willingly forgives us when we admit our misdeeds or failures. Asking the Lord to forgive and to help us be obedient to His direction gives us much peace and comfort. His rewards are the greatest and we benefit the most by following His guidance.
Blessings for the writings you do.
(B.C.)
Yours is a lovely, useful, particularly APT devotional. Everyone who reads it will be thinking of it while doing their laundry. It relates so broadly to our understanding, enlarging it on all fronts. Love the title too. I have used them all, back even to the scrub board on occasion in the wilderness though I was pretty young for it. Ever have the connecting hose for that portable one come loose from the faucet and spray all over you and whatever child was, ‘helping?’ I just remembered that my grandmother has sent me two small china dolls, of the size I loved, little one to hold in each hand. My mother had the old wringer washer out in the dirt yard and I still hear the broken china sound of those two new dolls, one in each pocket of my sundress, going, crunch, crunch, crunch, through that wringer. Mother was of slapdash persuasion school of chores and never checked pockets. I seem to remember that they didn’t do the wringer any good either.
I am SO glad you came to write PresbyCan.
Amen. Thank you very much, Gail.
Dear Gail,
Thank you for a well-ordered and helpful devotional.