Cleanse Me with Hyssop

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:7

Hyssop was a type of plant that God’s people used for ceremonial cleansing. It must have grown in leafy or spriggy bunches allowing Israel to use it almost like a paintbrush. This is the plant they used to paint the blood on their doorposts in Egypt when God struck down all the firstborn. But, more to the point, they also used hyssop to sprinkle people with water in purification ceremonies. You can read about this in Numbers 19 or Leviticus 14. But basically if a person had an infectious skin disease or if they had touched a dead body they were declared unclean and cut off from fellowship with the people and from the sanctuary of God. They had to be cleansed before they could return. The cleansing ceremony involved dipping a bunch of hyssop into water mixed with either sacrificial blood or ashes and then sprinkling it on the person.

Now, we read right over “cleanse me with hyssop” and don’t give it a second thought, but this was a powerful image to the Israelite. David is saying, “I feel unclean. I’m unworthy to come before you, God. I’m as polluted as someone who has touched a dead body or who has leprosy. Make me clean again, Lord, so I can enter Your presence!”

Sin has consequences. It threatens your intimacy with God. David understands this. In verse 11 he asks God, “Don’t cast me out of your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” David is thinking about the king of Israel that came before him, King Saul, whose sin resulted in him being rejected as king and losing the Spirit’s anointing. David doesn’t want the same thing to happen to him, but he fears it will because of his sin.

Even for believers, your sin matters! Your spot in heaven may be secure but your intimacy with God must be maintained. Sin separates you from God. It stuffs cotton in your ears and makes it difficult for you to hear His voice. It smears mud on your eyes and makes it hard for you to see His glory. It turns your heart of flesh into a heart of stone so that you are no longer drawn to love the things of God. And it offends God and makes Him want to move away from you.

So again, I say, your sin matters! Some of you are believers who have no intimacy with God. You have no desire to draw near to Him, and when you do He seems distant from you and you can’t figure out why. There are multiple reasons that can happen, but for many of you it’s because you are sinning against God. He has withdrawn His presence from you because you are spitting in His face day after day after day by willingly sinning against Him. You love money and horde possessions instead of giving generously to care for the poor and build His kingdom. That’s why God is far from you! Or you have pushed Jesus off the throne of your heart and are living in sin by putting sex before marriage, and yet somehow you think that it doesn’t matter. Sin matters! Whatever your sin is, understand that you can’t disobey God and expect Him to bless you and draw near to you like it isn’t happening.

For further reading...

• Psalm 51- Read all of this psalm confession psalm to learn more about sin and forgiveness.