Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
--Psalm 51:2
Certain kinds of magic markers leave nearly indelible marks on dustless chalkboards. Erasers won't completely take away the stain. Soon enough, it's off to the cleaning closet for Windex and rags.
Human sin -- the kind about which King David wrote about in today's verse -- is not dealt with by half-hearted attempts at erasure. It requires a thorough cleansing.
Make no mistake, sin is a dirty topic and an even dirtier reality. It doesn't pop up very often in polite, "enlightened" conversation. In 1973, Dr. Karl Menninger wrote a famous book with an even more famous title: Whatever Became of Sin? Decades later, it's still a great question.
King David didn't have to look very far. He saw it in himself; he called it "my iniquity" and "my sin." Here is a gut-level honesty that is far more appreciated these days than it is practiced.
The good news of the Gospel, to carry the analogy through, is that God headed for the cleaning closet and brought out the Windex and the rags. The sins of the world -- King David's and ours included -- were given a thorough cleansing. It was and is the "Windex" of the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin.
PD
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