Though your sins are as scarlet, They shall become as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be like wool.
Isaiah 1:18
A recent trip through the mountains became a sermon God preached to me as we drove.
The night before, snow fell steadily along parts of our scheduled route. The morning of the trip dawned sunny but frigid. As we headed into the snow laden territory we were cautiously optimistic about road conditions and thrilled to get a chance for our Southern souls to experience snow.
Within an hour of starting out we encountered patches of “a dusting of snow” here and there. Even that is enough to excite an Alabama girl. By lunch the shady side of the road had an inch or two, and though the sunny side was khaki-colored, dead, winter grass the excitement was mounting in the car. Eventually, the last few hours gave us our hearts’ desire, inches of white covered every hill and valley, laced the branches of trees, and powdered the mountains in the distance.
With clear roads – thank you very much snowy state, you know how to do it – and praise music filling the car, my heart soared! As white as snow! That was the whitest white, reflecting every bit of sunlight that hit it on that clear sunny day.
Though MY sins are as scarlet they shall become as white as snow…
The burning red of my anger and jealousy – made white!
All I could manage was trying to dust the the dirty landscape of my life with white.
The crimson of my selfish pride – made white!
My spotty cover up of sin with legalistic behavior in random places, useless.
The blood red depth of the evil thoughts and intents of my mind – made white!
Man-made snow, false whiteness, an attempt to appear pure myself.
The filthy, black soil of my sinful heart – made white!
All human attempts prove useless in cleansing and purifying.
I couldn’t make myself white any more than I could make snow. Left to my own means, I wallow in the devastation of my sin.
However, there is a solution – a Savior. I can place myself in the hands of the one who can make me white as snow, the one Who bled crimson blood to cover the depths of my sin, the purest of pure sacrificial Lamb Who paid the price for my failings. Thank you Lord for restoration, for giving us purity where we have been impure, and for scrubbing this dirt-dweller up to the brightest, cleanest white – whiter than snow! My life is in Your hands.
According to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings. Wash me thoroughly from my guilt
And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my wrongdoings, and my sin is constantly before me. Psalm 51:1-3
Priceless 