Have you ever been in a public restaurant and gotten a fork or spoon that was unclean? Gross, isn’t it? Well, that’s how God feels when we sin.
In Isaiah 64:6 Isaiah says, “For all of us have become as one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment…”
The word “unclean” here is the Hebrew word tamech, which means “to be foul (especially in a ceremonial or moral sense); to be contaminated, defiled, polluted.” It’s a strong word to express the idea that something is disgusting and totally undesirable.
My brother and I were sitting at the table with our father one evening having a discussion together; and while we talked, we were in the process of devouring a box of Fig Newtons. I must have eaten five or six when I noticed my father looking intently at his Fig Newton. Wondering what had captured his interest, I began looking at one of mine. Suddenly I saw it – the figs were moving! Every one of those Fig Newtons was filled with little worms, and we had almost finished off the entire box. Gross! To this day, though I still like Fig Newtons, I always pick them up and check them over before I begin eating them.
Now, that is something of the feeling God had when He looked at His people and saw their sin. They were unclean, and it was disgusting. Listen. We compare ourselves to other people and say, “Oh, I’m not so bad…” But when we measure ourselves against the holiness of God, we see ourselves as we really are – disgusting! It’s a matter of seeing things from God’s perspective, and He says we are all as an unclean things.
Say – the next time you say, “that’s disgusting,” remember that’s how God feels about your sin.