Have mercy on me, O God ... the state of our inner-self

Psalm 51:1 – “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.”

To this day I can still hear my mother saying to me … “You’re not going to wear that are you?” It is still reinforced today by my two daughters and my spouse. But, it has gotten me to reflect on a few things …

Grammatically it is a question, but in reality it is not a question at all.

As a teenager my (your?) mother could ask in “that” tone of voice that made me understand that it was really a declarative statement precipitation a change! Even if I didn’t want to.

We’ve been through this conversation on other occasions. I knew what’s coming next. “Suppose you had a wreck or something and were carried to the doctor’s office or the hospital. That undershirt is worn out you know. Take it off and get another one!” Or, as I have heard in later years, “Why don’t you just throw those underwear away?” Again, not really a question, but a declarative statement.

I do remember a comic routine by Bill Cosby concerning clean underwear. He wondered by mother’s were always concerned about the state of your underwear. He went on to shared that after all if you are in an automobile accident, and I quote, “First you say it and then you do it … and it isn’t clean any longer.”

My mother would have been surprised to learn what I discovered some years later. In a conversation with a registered nurse who worked in the ER at the local hospital, the personnel in the emergency rooms never check the patient for worn out or dirty underwear or holes in their socks. In fact, most of the time those items are cut off our bodies before any work can begin on mending our bodies.

However … and this is the point of Psalm 51 I do believe … the old question about underwear may raise a more pertinent thought about our “inner-wear?” What is the condition of our psyche or soul? What is the state of our emotional self?

John Wesley was fond of asking a penetrating question to his class meetings – “How is it with your soul?” What is the state of your inner-self? Yes, Lord, blot out my transgressions so that I will not be embarrassed if others could see my inner-self.