Purging with Hyssop
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” -Psalms 51:7
I used to think of that purging as a beating like the rod of correction that God uses in our life sometimes to bring us back to Him, while that is what He sometimes does that’s not what he’s saying here!
Hyssop is “a small bushy aromatic plant of the mint family, the bitter minty leaves of which are used in cooking and herbal medicine.” Hyssop was used to cleanse from sickness (or maybe infection).
Makes me think of how, “...we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags...” -Isaiah 64:6
We can try to live ethical and even live a righteous and pious life, but if there any sin or fault, it’s like wearing a white robe while underneath is a festering infection or worse a deadly disease.
As Christians, we can rest in knowing that we can never sever the covenant He made with us when we received that gift of Salvation (and if you don’t have that as your foundation, nothing else works!). However, we do sin daily in our flesh, and therefore we must be cleansed continuously by the “hyssop” of the Word. Does it sting sometimes? Yes! But that is the healing power of the Word neutralizing the infection of sin we allow.
Only then can we wear the white robes of righteousness as the children of God in front of a world that is desperate for an answer!!
I used to think of that purging as a beating like the rod of correction that God uses in our life sometimes to bring us back to Him, while that is what He sometimes does that’s not what he’s saying here!
Hyssop is “a small bushy aromatic plant of the mint family, the bitter minty leaves of which are used in cooking and herbal medicine.” Hyssop was used to cleanse from sickness (or maybe infection).
Makes me think of how, “...we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags...” -Isaiah 64:6
We can try to live ethical and even live a righteous and pious life, but if there any sin or fault, it’s like wearing a white robe while underneath is a festering infection or worse a deadly disease.
As Christians, we can rest in knowing that we can never sever the covenant He made with us when we received that gift of Salvation (and if you don’t have that as your foundation, nothing else works!). However, we do sin daily in our flesh, and therefore we must be cleansed continuously by the “hyssop” of the Word. Does it sting sometimes? Yes! But that is the healing power of the Word neutralizing the infection of sin we allow.
Only then can we wear the white robes of righteousness as the children of God in front of a world that is desperate for an answer!!
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