O Lord,
This chapter makes me ache.
To be examined, exposed, declared “unclean”
to be shut out from family, community, worship.
To carry shame not only in the body but in the soul.
It is a lonely kind of pain.
I read these words and I see myself.
The stains I cannot hide,
the brokenness that feels like a mark of exile.
I confess, Father, I know what it is to feel unclean.
Not just in my skin, but in my heart.
To carry sins, memories, wounds
that make me feel unworthy to belong.
To fear being rejected if people really saw me.
I confess I hide behind masks,
hoping no one notices what is diseased inside me.
Yet You are not repelled by the unclean.
You see the sores, the scars, the hidden shame
and still You draw near.
You provided priests to diagnose,
but You also provided sacrifices to restore.
And in Christ, You went further still
He touched the leper,
and instead of becoming unclean, He made them whole.
He bore my uncleanness in His own body,
that I might be called clean forever.
So here I am, Lord.
See me, even in my stains.
Name me, not as “unclean” but as “redeemed.”
Heal me where the disease of sin has spread deep.
Bring me back from exile into fellowship.
Let me know the joy of hearing You say:
“You are clean. You belong. You are Mine.”
Amen.