March 19

Psalm 52 Verse 8: Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.

This verse has set my mind to thinking about the translation’s wording. Why am I to be purged from my sin and not for my sin? I have been taught that sin is being separated from God. My actions and thoughts are what cause the separation. So if I am to be expulsed, eliminated, or removed from sin, doesn’t that mean I am to be in the presence of God? Please then wash me, cleanse me indeed. But I am still living life created for me by God. I still swear too much at people, think wicked thoughts, act badly toward certain people, and am too much a human. I cannot do this alone, so I pray for guidance from our Lord, understanding that I am the one who must make the changes; deliberately creating this clean heart and pure soul. God is with me always and I must remember that simple fact. Faith in what we can do and not acting as we humanly do, is the answer to my purging from sin and not because of sin.