“Out Damned Spot”

A Series from the Psalms
God is my… Savior
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Psalm 51

[God is many things to many people. In this series, we will be looking at various Psalms that completes the statement “God is my…” Maybe ultimately this answers the question that we all ask at some point in our life, “Who is God to me?”.]

 

In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth urged her husband to kill the king of Scotland. After the murder, her guilt gradually drove her insane. 

In Act V Scene 1, she is sleep walking and imagines that a spot of the king’s blood has permanently stained her hands. Here are the highlights of her monologue.

 

“Out damned spot! Out I say! …Hell is murky. …Will these hands ne’er be clean? …Here’s the smell of blood still. …What’s done cannot be undone!”

 

In these heart-wrenching words, you can feel the anguish, pain and guilt that is heavy on her heart. You can feel the resignation of a hopeless life; a life that is defined by her worst moment.

 

I’ve never been a big Shakespeare fan, but when I watched the clip below, it almost brought me to tears.

Act V Scene 1

No doubt, David must have felt some of the same guilt and despair as Lady Macbeth. The feeling of not being able to change what he had done; his adultery with Bathsheba and then having her husband killed.

 

³ For I recognize my rebellion;
    it haunts me day and night.    

⁵ For I was born a sinner—
    yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.     NLT

 

Unlike Lady Macbeth, David had hope. Hope that he would be forgiven; hope that he would be defined by more than his sinful acts; hope that the Lord would not close him out but keep him close.

 

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
    because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
    blot out the stain of my sins.
⁷ Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God.
    Renew a loyal spirit within me.           NLT

 

Lady Macbeth couldn’t remove the stain of blood, the stain of her sin. She was broken. She had no redemption; no forgiveness; no hope; no savior. But David did. His savior is the same one that is waiting for you and me, resulting in a clean heart, forgiven through the undying love of Jesus.

 

Copyright 2022 Joseph B Williams