“Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hand and a pure heart, who has not lifted his soul to an idol” Psalm 24:3-4
This message came to my heart as I got back home from shopping and I was washing my hand with warm water and soap. I would not have related washing of hands regularly to part of the strategies to combating Covid 19 though I know that washing of hands is hygienic and remembering Florence Nightingale, a nurse who emphasised the washing of hands as very important to curtailing infection in caring for the wounded soldiers and improving sanitary condition in the hospitals, it looks apparently that the hands are important part of the body and keeping them clean cannot be overemphasized.
But keeping our hands clean and having clean hands are not only important physically but spiritually. As it is good not to be contaminated physically, it is good not to be contaminated spiritually. As one can catch virus with our hands so also there are spiritual virus that can be contacted which can contaminate our spiritual body and ultimately lead to spiritual death. May I ask how many times you have washed your hands today with water and soap to avoid Covid 19? And may I ask how many times you have washed your hands today to avoid the spiritual deadly virus that kills faster than the pandemic in the world presently? Also, how conscious are you to constantly have clean hands? Do you go about with water or hand sanitizer? However, as important as washing our hands is to be avoiding the virus and to avoid spreading it, washing our hands with physical water is not enough to avoid the deadly virus of sin. Pontus Pilate washed his hand with water, but he was still guilty of sending Jesus to be crucified Matthew 27:24.
As our hands are clean physically so they must be clean spiritually. God loves cleanliness inside out. He wants us not only to make one aspect clean while leaving the other. He also knows how quickly our hands can be contaminated, In the Old Testament, He asked whoever touches a dead body to purify him/herself for seven days with water and whoever does not purify him/herself defies the tabernacle of the Lord Numbers 19: 11-13. One of the criteria for going to the hill of the Lord is having clean hands, hands that are not contaminated with sin, hands that do not shed innocent blood Psalm 24:3-4. God knows the power in our hands and various things we can do and accomplish with them. He blesses our hands and the works of our hands. He strengthens our hands to work and to fight battles, against sin and Satan. Satan knows that we can defeat him when our hands are clean and strong, and that is why he makes conscious effort to contaminate our hands and make our hands weak. Our hands are contaminated with sin and weakened when we are lazy as well as when we are rendered powerless from accusation of the devil which comes as a direct consequence of our sins, because Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Revelation 12:10
Unclean hands are:
1.Hands that shed innocent blood e.g. Cain who killed his brother in cold blood Genesis 4. Ahab and Jezebel who organised the killing of Naboth in order to take his vineyard 1 Kings 21:1-29;
2.Hands that take what belongs to others and hands that injure others causing pain and anguish e.g. the armed robbers who attack the man on his way Luke 10:30-,
3.Hands that take bribe to perverse justice Proverbs 26:10;
4.Hands that put burden on others to press them down and to kill their glory Pharaoh Exodus 1:11;
5.Hands that join together to plot evil against another e.g. the satraps Daniel 6:1-28;
6.Hands that get unjust money to betray others or to sell them to captivity e.g. Joseph's brothers and Judas Iscariot Genesis 37: 28 and Matthew 26:15, 27:3;
7.Hands that write death penalty for a just person even though such one pretends to be innocent e.g. Pontus Pilate Matthew 27; 24.
8.Hands that write evil letter to cause the death of the innocent one e.g. David wrote the letter to put Uriah in the toughest battle front and sent it through him knowing fully well that Uriah will die 2 Samuel 15.;
9.Hands that collect undue gifts for miracles that God performed e.g. Gehazi took gift from Naaman even when he knew that his master (Elisha) refused to collect it 1 King 21:1-25;
10.Hands that greedily take the fattest offering from people's offering in a contemptible way like the children of Eli 1 Samuel 2:12-4:4:11.
And clean hands are:
1.Hands that refuse to take public fund for personal use or misuse the office to oppress the poor and the less privileged e.g Samuel in 1 Samuel 12: 2-4 and Jesus, John 14:30,
2.Hands that set free those that are in bondage and those that have been hurt by people without a string attached to it Luke 10: 32-35.
3.Hands that lift people up
4.Hands that support the weary hand e.g Aaron and Hur supported Moses' hand Exodus 17:12
5.Hands that support people to achieve their goals in life
6.Hands that supplies the needs of the needy or the less privileged e.g Dorcas Acts 9:36-42
7.Hands that diligently carry out the work of God in holiness Isaiah 52:11
8.Hands that refuse to shed innocent blood
9.Hands that refuse to take bribe
10.Hands that refuse to desecrate the temple of the Lord with the unclean things/sins
11.Hands that refuse to sell the gift of Holy Spirit for money or for personal gain Acts 8:18-21
The importance of clean hands cannot be overemphasized as this helps us:
1.To go to the presence of God without fear Psalm 24: 3-4
2.To silence the accuser's mouth Luke 4
3.To protect us - Proverb 16:17•To have God's blessings Psalm 1:1-3
4/To rule justly and stand clean e.g. Samuel. 1 Samuel 12:2-4 etc.
And as there are benefits of clean hands, there are also consequences for having dirty and unclean hands. Some of these are:
1.God hates unclean hands Proverbs 6:17
2.Being cut off from the presence of God. Numbers 19:13
3.Death e.g Cain Genesis 4:8 and Judas. Matthew 27:3-5.
4.Shame and fear e.g Joseph's brothers Genesis 50:16-1,
5.Not being able to perform one's Spiritual duty successfully e.g. the children of Eli 1 Samuel 2:12
6.Bringing trouble to one's family Proverbs 15:27
As we need water to wash our hands physically, we need the word of God, which is the water of life; to wash our hands clean spiritually Romans 12:2. God's word is the water of life. It is the pure water of life that washes clean and pure all the time. For our hands to be clean spiritually, we wash our hands clean by reading and meditating on the word as well as putting these words to practice in our daily life. It is not enough to just deep our hands inside the water and bring them out without having them properly washed and rinsed, in like manner, it is not enough to just browse the word of God but to read and meditate on it for proper understanding and application. The word is not meant for special occasions and special days but every day. Joshua1:8. God's word must reside in us abundantly.
Unlike, the physical water that becomes polluted after washing our hands in it and we need to throw it away afterwards, the word of God never become stained or dirty, rather it is fresh and clean all the time this helps us to draw out clean and fresh water for all occasions Psalm 119: 11 We must keep God's word abundantly in our hearts Colossians 3:16. Keeping the word of God in our hearts helps us to stand against the devil and his enticement e.g. Jesus in Luke 4: 1. We need God's word in our hearts so that the water of life will flow from us to others.
There is no better time than this when we need to keep our hands clean both physically and spiritually. As we need to keep our hands clean from germs that can attract or cause diseases and death, we need to keep our hands clean spiritually from all the germs that contaminate us spiritually “Depart, depart! Go out from them. Touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, be clean you who bear the vessels of the Lord” Isaiah 52: 11.
Lady Evangelist Esther Ogunbayeje
Christ Apostolic Church
United Kingdom
estherami18@gmail.com
gabbytoyin@gmail.com
+44-7478044454/ +44-7988672933