Hyssop

Hooray for language connections.
We talked about Psalm 51 a good bit this weekend because it is such a beautiful picture of true repentance. There were two big things that stuck out to me.

First, David does not pretend that he can fix himself or that he has any righteousness on his own to take care of his sins. He knows it is only by the grace of God that he can be made clean. He says "Have mercy on me, O God, according to YOUR steadfast love" and "[you] blot out my trasngressions" (v. 1) and "[you] wash me thoroughly from my iniquity (v.2)." Later he asks God to "create in me a clean heart (v.10)."
So it's nothing I can do to "fix" my sin. Without Christ, I am hopelessly sinful.

The second thing, which blew my mind a little, was shown to me by Mrs. Lucy. She read verse 7 which says, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

Purge, purify, cleanse me with hyssop.
The spanish word for hyssop is hisopo. Interestingly enough, hisopo is also their word for Que-tip. So, think of when someone is giving a baby a bath. Sometimes they might use a que-tip to get dirt out of the rolls in the neck. This is important because if there is any bit of dirt left, even a tiny bit, it can get real nasty. So, to insure that the ALL the dirt is completely removed, a Que-tip is used. Now imagine God cleaning your heart with a Que-tip. EVERY bit of dirt and grime MUST be removed. Sin is like yeast. It quickly grows and takes over if not removed completely. So, though it doesn't sound like a very fun process to me, how could I want anything else?