Please read Psalm 51
In v.7
David asks God “Purge me with hyssop,…wash me”. He is asking God to remove his
sins completely so that he will be “clean”
and “whiter than snow”; David wants
to be unstained by sin.
David refers to hyssop, which is a small plant. In Israel, a bunch of hyssop was used to dip
into blood and then the blood was sprinkled to ceremonially cleanse lepers (Leviticus
14:6,7). When David asks God to purge/cleanse him with hyssop, he realizes that
the cleansing has to come from outside of himself. He also acknowledges a costly cleansing – the
sacrifice of a life. And that sacrifice cannot be the life of another sinner;
it has to be the life of someone innocent. So David understands that he cannot
cleanse himself and he looks up to God to cleanse him.
Dear brother and sister in Christ, do you realize that you
and I, sinners, cannot cleanse ourselves from our sinful condition? Our One
True God cleanses us, i.e. sets us free from sin. The good news is that Jesus
the Christ died for your sins and my sins according His Father’s will and plan,
and on the third day rose from the dead for your salvation and my
salvation. In The Glorious Exchange, Christ achieved for us what we cannot do or achieve. His
death on the cross brings us life and he took our sins and gave us His
Righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). You and I should be suffering the wrath of
God but in Christ God reconciles us to himself.
And that is good news!
The story is told of a chicken farmer who fled his home and farm
during a fire. Before he ran off the property, the farmer opened the doors of
the hen house and the chickens escaped the fire too. After the fire died, the
farmer walked through his property, dejected and sad. He came to a hen lying on
the ground, partly burnt to death with her wings spread wide open. Since he
thought that all of his chickens fled the fire, the farmer was surprised to see
a dead hen, and in disgust kicked the hen’s body. Then, to his surprise he saw
two chicks run out from under the dead hen’s body. The mother hen took the fire
to save the two chicks. Jesus our Savior
did that for us. He spread His arms on the cross and saved us from God’s wrath.
Dear Lord Jesus: I acknowledge that your suffering,
sacrifice and death cleanse me with you blood. I thank you for cleansing me.
Amen!
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