December 11

Snow.

Psalm 51:1-7 (ESV)
             1      Have mercy on me, O God,
      according to your steadfast love;
                  according to your abundant mercy
      blot out my transgressions.
            2       Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
      and cleanse me from my sin!

            3       For I know my transgressions,
      and my sin is ever before me.
            4       Against you, you only, have I sinned
      and done what is evil in your sight,
                  so that you may be justified in your words
      and blameless in your judgment.
            5       Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
      and in sin did my mother conceive me.
            6       Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
      and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

            7       Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
      wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow
            8       Let me hear joy and gladness;
      let the bones that you have broken rejoice

David writes Psalm 51 after he is caught in his sin by Nathan the prophet (see 2 Samuel 11-12).  This is the notorious sin of David (the man after Gods' own heart!), who makes a series of sins that lead to his affair with Bathsheba and then orchestrates the murder of her husband to cover up his tracks. If you read the story its shocking that he doesn't seem to feel any conviction that what he did was wrong until Nathan the prophet exposes him (only because God tells Nathan what happened).  But when he is confronted, David demonstrates what repentance looks like and what conviction feels like.  We don't know how long after this encounter David writes this famous Psalm, but it couldn't have been too long as the tone and conviction seem driven by the reality of the new light shed on a dark sin.
Last night it snowed here in Winnipeg, fresh, new and white.  The dirt, the ice, and the dead grass are all covered with a blanket of new snow and I think of this Psalm--the cleansing of sin and the covering of death with a blanket of grace.  How many of us have sins that linger with shame and guilt that we could only a faint hope that we would be whiter than snow...it would create joy again wouldn't it?  Joy is a resounding theme of advent, David wants and craves for joy (vs 8) after experiencing the crushing weight of his sin, not because he got caught but because he has sinned against a Holy God and recognizes only this Holy God can restore and heal him and create a clean heart.  This is the theme of Christmas!  The author of 'Joy to the world' caught this in the 3rd stanza reflecting on the grace that would come through Jesus:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

Far as the curse is found in our lives, God's grace cleanser deeper.  Yesterday at church we sang 'though our sins they are many, his mercy is more'.  On this day (assuming you're in Winnipeg), look at the new snow and see that as God has made the city anew, his grace makes anew our souls.  Rejoice!