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Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
Isaiah 1:18 (ESV)

“My heart is not clean. :-(”

This is a text I got at one in the morning from a dear friend who recently lost her husband.

She’s burdened with thinking all this is happening to her because she’s so unrighteous. She feels so much guilt for things she did in life and things she should have done but didn’t.

And even the steps she started to take to redeem herself over the years don’t reassure her. She wishes she had opened her eyes sooner.

Truth is, she’s no different from all of us.

No matter how much I improve in the way I treat others or care for myself and my responsibilities, there’s always something I should have done that I didn’t. And there are always behaviors or moments of bad decisions I regret.

It’s never enough, is it? We all sin and fall short of the glory of God, right? That’s what Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 (ESV).

But it’s not futile.

You can be free of that awful feeling that somehow, you brought your desperate circumstances upon yourself because you’re a bad person. We have Jesus, Who takes all that away.

Only through Christ do we become truly clean.

We don’t become clean because of anything we’ve done, but what He’s done. So we can’t even boast about it. (Ephesians 2:9).

When I lost my husband, I had to trust His timing, and not look at all my inadequacies as to the reason I was left in such pain. That wasn’t a hard step for me to do, because I had already turned my life over to Christ years before.

How about you?

Have you finally gotten to where you believe you’re clean, not by your own right, but by His sacrifice, and because you’ve accepted you belong to Him and He paid it all?

My friend hadn’t quite understood how completely available the Grace of God is. That’s very normal. It takes time to let the reality of His Grace sink in. Here’s what I asked her to do. And as my sister in widowhood here, if you haven’t chosen to belong to Him, this is what I ask you to do as well.

God allows strife to draw you to Him. God tells us, “…for I know the plans I have for you,…, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV).

Trust that you belong to Him and can therefore walk in freedom, away from the burden of constantly feeling unworthy. You have worth not because of what you have done, but because of what He has done!

I want you to listen to an old hymn.

It’s inspired by Isaiah 1:18 which prophesied what Christ would do hundreds of years later: (you can listen to it here)

Jesus paid it all
All to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Crimson was a dye used in those days to get a deep red, almost purplish color in fabric. Wool is white. Unstained. Like fresh snow.

God asks us, “Come now, let us reason together.” (Isaiah 1:18)

He wants you to rest in the Truth that He has already settled the score on your guilt. Stop ignoring it or sweeping it under the rug. Acknowledge how powerless you are to erase your own sins and let Him settle the score. As I write this today I want you to know that the woman I was speaking of at the top of this post struggled for so long and just a few days ago surrendered completely to Christ. It’s been days since then and she describes such a lifting in her spirit. I pray the same for all our sisters here.

Resting in His forgiveness will bring you strength and joy that’s unexplainable to others. It will not only help you, but it will also help your loved ones through these next steps of losing your husband from their lives.

When you need a reminder of how He’s washed away your sin…

Click on the link for the hymn I told you about above and meditate on it. If you haven’t taken the step yet, let God know you trust Him. You are giving your heart to Him because only He can take away your sin. He died that day on the cross to wash you white as snow.

Dear Lord,

Help all of our sister who are suffering in grief, Lord, but particularly, please help that woman who is struggling with feeling unworthy on top to feeling the pain of grief. You know it won’t go away through anything she does on her own efforts. Don’t leave her adding burden on top of her circumstances as a widow. Help her settle the matter and let You wash her chrisom stain away, once and for all. Amen.