Psalm 51:7-15
Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, 
scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life. 
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, 
set these once-broken bones to dancing. 
Don’t look too close for blemishes, 
give me a clean bill of health. 
God, make a fresh start in me, 
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. 
Don’t throw me out with the trash, 
or fail to breathe holiness in me. 
Bring me back from gray exile, 
put a fresh wind in my sails! 
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways 
so the lost can find their way home. 
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, 
and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways. 
Unbutton my lips, dear God; 
I’ll let loose with your praise.
(The Message)

—

If you’ve ever needed biblical guidance on how to come clean with God, here it is. Psalm 51 is King David’s confession and repentance after his affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. 

KD airs his dirty laundry. He lets everyone see how filthy he is. He lets us overhear his conversation with God. He teaches us how to get gut-level honest with God. He invites the scrubbing only an angry mother can give her son who played in the mud in his church clothes. 

What’s the worst you’ve done? 

What have you been avoiding bringing up with God? 

God’s love, mercy, and compassion accompany his justice and correction. You can trust him with your worst. He can turn black-hearted sinners into sparkling paragons of virtue shining bright for all to see. 

Confident you don’t require such a scrubbing today, and knowing you probably will sometime, mark this chapter. Return to it as often as needed. The words aren’t magic, but combined with a humbled heart, they work God’s wonders of cleansing and restoration. 

—

I will come clean with God as often as necessary, which is more regular than I care to admit to anyone but God. 

—

Our Father, thank you for making a way home for even the dirtiest, rottenest scoundrels, including me. Wash me. Scrub me. Make me clean again. Empower me to make the decisions that keep me clean and fresh. Amen.