Have You Had Your Bath Today?

“….thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.” (Psalm 50:9 Douay Rheims)

I remember as a little boy getting into the dirt and mud outside and I would come running through the kitchen leaving tracks on the floor. I was absolutely filthy and foul.  

Mom would stop me in my tracks. "Stop right there young man." She would tell me to go and take a bath. I would bathe myself and then come back to the kitchen. I was not even close to being clean. I was too dirty to get all the mud and grime off myself. Mom would march me back into the bathroom and say, "Take off your clothes, son." She would fill the bathtub with hot water again and tell me to get in. Then she would begin to wash me. I would fight her and try to wrestle the soap away. I didn't want her to wash me. I wanted to do it myself. She would put soap on a course brush and scrub me until I thought I was going to bleed. Finally, I was clean enough for mom's inspection.

You see, I was not capable of seeing all the dirt, much less able to apply enough pressure to get it all off. Neither are we capable of getting all the sin out of our lives on our own.

David from the Psalms understood this and we see it in this prayer. He had tried to get clean before, but now he was coming to God and saying, "I want to really be clean, so I want you to wash me Father." Perhaps he had done as we so often do and had weakly confessed his sins to the Lord; but after Nathan had confronted him, David saw that he was still filthy.

This realization led David to do several things that are difficult for most of us. He had to...

• Be still.

We want to move and squirm, but we must be still so He can wash us.

• Be naked.

Oh, the humility of standing still and exposed before God so that He can clean me. But that is what we all must do.

• Be helpless.

Not until we admit that we cannot clean ourselves can we truly be clean.

• Be patient.

I want a quick shower not a thorough scrubbing but God must clean us thoroughly if we are going to be clean.

• Be willing.

It hurts. Ow, we cry when we are being scrubbed. But sometimes it takes some painful scrubbing to get us totally clean.

Oh, but take note of the results. How clean will we be when we submit to the thorough washing of the Lord? We will be whiter than snow. How clean do you want to be? David wanted to be squeaky clean, and he was willing to let God do the washing so he would be.

Many of us struggle with trusting the Lord to clean us up because we think we can do it ourselves.

You will only be truly clean when you allow God to do the washing. Perhaps our real challenge is that we don't want to be whiter than snow. Maybe we are still hanging on to a sin we do not want to give up. You will never be fully restored until you want to be as clean as David did, which was cleaner than clean.

Challenge:

It will take five things for you to be as clean as you want to be.

• Be still,
• Be naked,
• Be helpless,
• Be patient
• Be willing.

Are you? Examine your heart and see if there is any resistance to that kind of a scrubbing from God.

Today:

Are you willing to pray this prayer with David? "Lord, wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.”  " Spend some time today in fervent prayer asking God to point out any sins that you need to confess. Write them down and the next time you get into the "bath tub" of the confessional ask Him to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.