When God, thru Moses, led his people to the Promised Land, he instructed them to drive out all the inhabitants of the land. These people were idol worshipers and God did not want his people mixing with them for fear that the Jews would take on their idol worship and forsake God.
Given a Clean Slate, they could worship and serve the true God as he instructed and remain faithful to Him alone.
King Josiah served God from an early age. One of his first acts in serving God was to tear down the “high places” and destroy the wooden, carved and molded images. He too was creating a Clean Slate for the children of God to begin serving God again without the baggage of the previous evil kings.
The history of the Jewish people reveals that they were repeatedly rejecting God and turning to idols and worship of false gods.
When one is baptized to become a Christian we also are given the opportunity of a Clean Slate.
Psalm 51:7 says “we shall be whiter than snow.” All of our previous sins are forgiven by the grace of God. Yes, we will stumble and fall from time to time, but Christ’s blood continually cleanses us from our sins as we repent of them.
Let us not be like Israel of old. Let’s not turn back to our former lusts of the flesh. Let’s not take up our “idols” and reject God in doing so.
We have a Clean Slate – let’s fill it with good things (Philippians 4:8).
-David Coleman