Wash Me Thoroughly

David wrote this after being confronted with a sin he had tried hard to bury, one that had cost real people real harm. He does not minimize it or spin it. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. He asks to be washed thoroughly, which is the prayer of a man who knows the stain has gone deep and surface scrubbing will not do.

What matters is the ground he stands on to ask. He does not appeal to his track record or his usefulness to God. He appeals only to God's steadfast love and abundant mercy. He has nothing to offer but the confession itself, and he throws himself entirely on who God is rather than on anything he has done. That is the only honest place to pray from after a real fall, and it turns out to be enough.

A man in this fight can feel the dirt so persistently that he believes he is beyond washing. David's prayer says otherwise. The one who made you is willing and able to cleanse what you cannot cleanse yourself.

God, have mercy on me according to your steadfast love. I cannot wash this off on my own. Wash me thoroughly, and make me clean where I could never reach.