Unclean

"Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?" -Ecclesiastes 7:13

Some things are just unclean. They can't help it; they were made that way. Take for instance the common household fly...

I had a friend recently ask me,"Why did God make flies?" I am usually rather quick to answer such an agriculturally spiritual question, but this one had me stumped. "Let me ponder this," I said; and so I have. I've spent days researching the Scriptures and praying about flies. Is this pointless? Hardly. Nothing that takes you to the Lord and His Word is pointless.

What I've come to understand is that flies have the business of making things defiled. When a fly lands in your drink, will you continue to drink it? I hope not. When that ugly little insect plants himself on your sandwich and raises his little back legs to rub together, are you inclined to just watch the beauty of it? Not likely. There are whole sections of the manufacturing world dedicated to the deflection and removal of flies. Every day in the summer, I spray down my horses with a fly repellent or else the flies swarm them as if they're already dead. In my home, I hang fly paper in strategic locations to keep them from landing in places I don't want them. Outside my doors, I hang traps with a fly bait in them so that flies will crawl into them and not be able to get out. Many people buy another insect that feeds on fly larvae so that they don't mature. In general, the fly is despised because it's dirty.

Flies contaminate. They spread disease. They leave little, nasty dark spots where they've lingered. Why, God? Why the fly?

Flies in Scripture were used as a form of pestilence upon Pharaoh. They were a tool to punish him for his stubborn oppression of the Hebrews.

"As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor." -Ecclesiastes 10:1

It is easy to make something unclean. One little fly landing in your drink will contaminate your whole drink. Simply removing the fly is not enough, because he's already permeated your drink with his filth. According to the covenant between Israel and God, anything that was unclean had rigid guidelines for becoming clean again...and it was never as easy as becoming unclean. Some things were irreparable, but most things were cleansed in a variety of ways: Blood sacrifice, Ash, Hyssop, Fire, Water. These are the five most common elements I found in Scripture used for cleansing.

1)Blood- I understand that blood is the carrier of life. It delivers nutrients and oxygen for the regeneration of cells. It is the principle of life; it is vitality itself. It delivers essential things to what was deficient and helps make things whole.

2)Ash- It is the residue of a thing that was burned. Ash in our lives signifies that we've been tried by a fire and what is left is clean. Whatever makes it through the fire of Adonai is what is worthwhile to Him. In the Bible, people put ash on themselves in mourning to remember their own mortality and that they needed to live a life that would pass through the fire of the Almighty. Reflecting on such things has a very purifying effect.

3)Hyssop- This is an herb of the mint family that has been used to cure indigestion. It is oftentimes planted among other vegetables because it deters pests that would eat them. It was used in the Bible to paint the doorposts of the Hebrews with lamb's blood during the first Passover, and it was used to lift the vinegar soaked sponge up to Jesus on the cross.

4)Fire- Our God is a consuming fire. Fire eats up dross. Anything worthless in the eyes of our God is incinerated. Only hard, lasting things will remain. Fire flushes impurities and causes them to show themselves. Other things that are unclean, fire can cause to simply die. It is the great separator of the temporal and eternal. Fire is a visible, active phase of combustion, manifested in light and heat.

5)Water- This is the one element that all life requires to live. There is no variation in that. Water flows and cleanses and washes. It is powerful and can sweep away filth. Consider the story of Noah. When the world was evil, God chose water to make it like new.

What man can straighten what God has made crooked? The answer is no man. We cannot make the fly clean. We cannot wash away our sins. We cannot remedy our natural bent toward pain, destruction, selfishness, etc. All these things are things only God can do if He so chooses. You could sacrifice an animal, you could dump ashes on your head, you could scrub yourself with hyssop, you could run through flames, and you could nearly drown yourself in an ocean....but you cannot cleanse yourself of your guilt and you cannot make yourself clean.

"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, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." -1 John 1:7-10

There is one way to be made whole; there is one way to be made clean. His name is Jesus Christ, God's Risen Son. His blood is sufficient for me. His blood is sufficient for you. Before we come to Christ, we live as flies: contaminating everything we touch. "Without Christ, we do nothing but add sin to sin." -John Wesley. With Christ working in us, and us yielding to His guidance, we no longer have to live crooked and unclean. We can be bearers of life, sharing in the fellowship of His suffering, easing suffering and protecting, separating the holy from the profane, and powerfully sweeping away all that contaminates us. Hallelujah!