You never know the intensity of dirty until you experience the brilliance of clean.

I discovered this truth—again—when I finally got around to cleaning my living room and kitchen windows. It wasn't that I was unaware of how dirty they were, but dirt has a way of sneaking up up me. They were getting progressively dirtier as I worked to convince myself that things weren't bad enough to require my attention.

That, I suspect, was what happened to Israel. Their worship and service was pure in the beginning, but gradually, like my windows, they got dirtier and dirtier through neglect, all the while Israel was convinced that everything was fine—still. What once had been a heart conviction, worship and service rendered out of love for God, gradually darkened into worship and service that was strictly driven by the mind. I am doing this because I have to—and it is perfectly fine. The trouble was, their worship and service wasn't "fine" from God's perspective. It had been reduced to dirty duty rather than clean conviction.

My windows look out over green valleys. it was when the green was getting gray that I finally decided to clean the windows. What I thought was acceptable—my wisdom, my discernment about the condition of my windows—turned out to pretty weak. When I saw green again, I realized how dirty those windows really had been.

When God reached down to show Israel the depth of her darkness, the depth of the dirt in the windows she thought were in acceptable condition, He promised that she would be surprised, astonished, overwhelmed by the result of His work in them. Clean does that. Clean amazes us with its brilliance, casting ours into the shade, showing it to be what it really is—not so brilliant after all.

The effects of a neglected spiritual life creep up on us gradually. We think we are fine. We may even continue to go through the motions, but God knows how dirty duty has replaced clean conviction. When He shows us His clean in opposition to our dirty, we realize how much we have missed by not allowing Him to clean us thoroughly each day. As we humble ourselves before Him, as we open our lives to the Spirit's examination, and to the washing of the Word of God, we discover that the hills of God's blessing are really green after all. 

Washing windows, whether physically or spiritually, is an onerous chore, but the end result is well worth the effort.