The Fear of the Lord is Clean

The Fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe towards God 

“The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.” (Psalm 19:9 ESV)

Clean before the Lord

“The fear of the Lord is clean.” What does that mean? The dictionary defines clean as without blemish. Being pure, virtuous and complete. Free of dirt, spotless, unblemished, and washed. That’s what you are when you are cleaned by Jesus.

I met my wife, Susan, at a Christian coffee house with the name Superior Cleaner Coffee House. Some Christian hippies had turned a building that had previously been a clothes cleaning business into a coffee house. The sign on the building originally said “Superior Cleaners,” but they removed the “s” at the end and said, “Jesus is the superior cleaner! It represented what their ministry was all about, which was telling people how their lives could be cleaned up by Jesus.

A song I really liked back then, sung by Evie Tornquist, started off with, “Clean before the Lord I stand, and in me not one blemish does He see. When I placed all my burdens on Him, He washed them all from me.” I liked it because it said very clearly what God did for us when we turned to Him.

Jesus cleanses us from all sin

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (John 1:7 ESV)

“Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3 ESV)

Therefore

“Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalms 51:9-10 ESV)

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” (Heb. 10:22-23 ESV)