Deborah Switzer - Shower Power

SHOWER POWER
By Deborah Switzer

Have you ever gotten dirty? I mean really dirty? I remember when I went on a mission trip to Haiti. Our focus was the construction of an orphanage and evangelism to the natives. It was so hot and dirty, and the hard labor left us covered in an uncomfortable mixture of sweat and dirt. To top it off, we had no indoor plumbing for bathing. I recall how grimy I felt covered in sweat, sand, and dust. I yearned for a long shower to wash away the filth.

Now I can’t believe I am actually confessing this: But there have been other days in my comfortable American life where I didn’t feel quite so stinky. So I would be happy to throw on a little deodorant and perfume and continue throughout my day without a shower. After all, I didn’t smell, so there was no harm done.

About a month ago, as I was worshipping God in my church, I was amazed that the Lord brought these two “shower” images into mind. We were singing a refrain “showers of mercy and grace;” and from there, the Lord took me on a rabbit trail of revelation. He lovingly reminded me of my Haiti experience, and how much I appreciated finally stepping into that long-awaited shower. I could remember in great detail how sticky, hot and dirty I felt – and also just how uncomfortable that made me. But when that wonderful moment of cleansing came, oh how freeing it felt! With joy, I watched the dirt swirl down the drain, never to be seen again. In just a few seconds, my filth was washed away, and I was left feeling refreshed and new. It was almost as if I had forgotten how confident I could feel when I was truly clean! I was able to move more freely after that shower, no longer disguising my foul odor or my filthy skin from the rest of the team.

When God “showers us with His mercy” we spiritually experience what I experienced naturally in Haiti. So many times in life we will find ourselves completely covered with sin and its consequences. This layer of “spiritual filth” makes us truly long to be clean, to have the grime washed down the drain and leave us feeling fresh, new and confident. How amazing is God’s love that He will shower mercy upon us and literally wash away the most caked-on, thickly encrusted layers of sin we can carry.

King David experienced this level of spiritual filth after committing adultery and murder. There are times, like David, where we might feel that our sin is so great, that nothing can truly completely wash it away. Yet, the reality of his depravity caused David to cry out this heart felt prayer in Psalm 51:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

What I appreciate about David’s prayer is that it goes so much deeper than just a washing away of sin. There is a creative process that happens in our lives when we truly repent and allow God to wash us “whiter than snow.” The cleansing power of God’s love is linked with the creation of a pure heart. In His amazing mercy, God not only cleanses us, but He daily recreates us (if we repent), so that we leave His shower not just feeling fresh, but actually being fresh, new and confident. We truly leave His tub a brand new person, transformed by the power of His Spirit. And even when the amazing moments of the actual shower of mercy end, Christ still wraps us in the towel of His grace, and allows us to carry the fragrance of His presence everywhere we go that day. That is quite a transformation from the dirty sinner that originally stepped into the shower!

God’s showers of mercy also produce humility. Once we have experienced His mercy and love, we begin to understand that, eventually, the sin of this world will start to drown out the fragrance of His holy presence in our lives. We recognize that we must daily enter His shower of mercy which brings forgiveness and renewal and allows us to carry His presence once again for the brand new morning.

This leads me to the second part of God’s rabbit trail revelation … the days when I choose not to shower.

On those days that I had hoped I could just slide by with a little bit of man-made fragrance, I found myself not being quite as confident. I lacked boldness because deep in my heart, I knew I wasn’t really clean. I may have appeared ok on the outside, but I knew underneath I still needed a shower. The lingering question of “Do I smell?” was somehow always in the back of my mind. It reminds me of Christ’s harsh words to the Pharisees: “You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.” (Matthew 23:27). We should never grow so arrogant that we become unaware of our own “stink.” Our stink (or sin) will never have a rose-scented distinction in the nostrils of God. We must allow His cleansing to infiltrate our pores, no matter how uncomfortable or inconvenient it may be.

God designed sin to be uncomfortable and ugly because it proves how beautiful and generous His mercy can be. God’s unmerited, gracious favor produces much humility in our lives. Never was this demonstrated more powerfully then in the washing of the disciples’ feet. When Christ chose to lower Himself to the role of a servant to wash the disciples’ feet, His generous and undeserved mercy was once again displayed to them. Imagine … their King was cleansing the dirt from between their toes! Still, Peter’s initial response to Christ’s gesture of love was, “You shall never wash my feet!” In Peter’s eyes, it was wrong to have the Messiah see his naked, dirty feet and wash them. Still, Christ’s response back to him was, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8).

I think all of humanity has a bit of Peter in them. Somehow it seems wrong to have to strip down naked and allow Christ to see us in our entirety … to allow him to cleanse every single spot of our stench and grime. It seems much easier to put on a little deodorant (pride) and perfume (man’s fragrance of works) to appear to be clean. Yet, even the most noble of actions cannot replace actually taking a shower in Christ’s forgiveness each morning. Without His mercy, we know in our hearts that we are not truly clean; instead we are producing an artificial stench that can smell even more revolting than just good ol’ plain dirt (sin). Eventually, the fragrance of works mixed with the stench of our sinful nature will create a putrid smell. (Have you ever tried to spray air freshener to rid your kitchen of the smell of rotten garbage? It never works, and usually ends up smelling worse than the garbage itself. Covering over a nasty smell with freshener doesn’t work in your kitchen, and it certainly doesn’t work in your spirit either! The smell will linger unless we completely empty the trash [sin] and wipe the can clean with Lysol [God’s forgiveness] to produce a new, pleasant aroma!)

As Christ Himself stated, we can have no part in Him unless we allow Him to see, smell and touch every sin … no matter where it is hidden or how long it has been there. So we find ourselves humbled once again, as we strip down to our mistakes, shortcomings, and sin, and allow the cleansing shower of mercy to wash over us. And as we stand before the Lord naked and vulnerable, His blood so gently comes and rinses the foulest sin down the drain, never to be seen again, “for He remembers our sin no more” (Isaiah 43:25).

Have you showered in Christ’s mercy today? I encourage you to step into the most refreshing and renewing time of your day – you won’t regret it!