Psalm 17:3 You have tried my heart; You have visited me by night; You have tested me and You find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
A few months ago, I mentioned to a good friend that I was frustrated with reminding my son to wash his hands after using the restroom. At age 12, he should wash his hands without a reminder, but he doesn’t. Every time he exits a public restroom, I cringe. Did he wash or did he not? That is always my question. I know many Moms carry anti-bacterial, hand soap, but that is not a solution for me. More than one leaky bottle of the stuff has ruined several of my good purses. I am simply reduced to saying to my son, “Don’t touch me or anything else in your path until we get home.” Upon explaining all this to my friend, she just laughed and gave me these valuable words of parenting wisdom, “Ask him to tell you the color of the soap.” Her solution was very simple, but pure genius. With those simple words, I test my son’s sincerity, faithfulness, and honesty.
In my own Bible studies, I found the same simple test written by David many years ago in Psalm 17:3. Under persecution, David cried out to the Lord to test him and try his heart. He knew the Lord could see what was there and he did not fear God’s test because he knew that he was clean. It was not a request to prove his own importance or self-righteousness. His words were a sincere plea that the Lord would declare him faithful and spotless and ready to represent the Lord before his persecutors. It was a parenting moment at the highest level between God, the father, and his son, David.
Getting back to my son’s parenting moment, I enlisted my husband’s help in carrying out the hand-washing test. After having a nice family dinner at a local restaurant, we prepared to pay and leave. We sent our son to the restroom and reminded him to wash his hands before coming out. In less than one minute, our smiling, angelic child returned. “Did you wash your hands?” my husband asked. Without hesitating, our son snarled, “Yes, I did.” We put on our coats in silence. Our son stood by his chair, feeling quite safe I’m sure, until my husband dropped the bomb, “What color was the soap?” Red-faced, eyes glaring, and mouth twisted into a frown, my son snapped back, “What do you mean?” The next few minutes were filled with excuses. My son offered explanations from: 1) the soap did not have a color; 2) the toilet didn’t flush and made him forget the color of the soap; to finally, 3) someone else was using the dispenser and he could not see the color. My husband asked again, “Did you wash your hands?” Head down and shoulders drooped, our son spilled the truth. “No, I didn’t wash my hands.”
For me, this was a really powerful lesson in parenting and in daily Christian living. If I pray David’s prayer, is my heart clean? What color is the soap that I use to clean up my heart and make it ready for God to test and try? Is it God’s soap or my own? Do I actually get clean? Do I remember to do it each day?
I thank my friend for her parenting wisdom and I pray that I will remember to clean my heart for God to test and try each day.
That was awesome Jeanne……how is your son doing with the handwashing?
Hi Marilyn, Thanks. He’s better, but we are praying that his memory will continue to improve.
Jeanne,
When I told you about this I used it with the children I worked with in the Summer Program I used to do where I was working. It was funny to see the children’s responses especially the boys. I do think not just about David but about us as we come before God. Each day when we come before God we need to have a clean heart. There will come a time when we will all face the Almighty God and we need to be prepared and have clean hearts. I wonder if God will ask us “What color was the soap?” I love your Blog, keep up the good work. karen