On this day in 1797 Nathaniel Briggs patented the washing machine.

The next time you throw your laundry in the hamper, be thankful you don’t have to go down to the nearest river or stream to wash your clothes by hand! Before the washing machine, people got dirt out of their clothes by pounding them on rocks and rinsing them in streams. Of course, that’s better than what sailors did. They used to throw their clothes in a bag over the side of the ship and trail the bag behind them with the hopes that the rushing water would remove the dirt.

In 1797, Nathaniel Briggs came up with an invention that he believed would revolutionize this backbreaking chore for women—the predecessor of today’s automatic washing machine, the washboard. While it was one step removed from lugging the clothes down to the river, this invention still required a lot of work on the part of the cleaner. Still it was a beginning.

Today we enjoy the convenience of throwing our dirty laundry into the washing machine, adding a cupful of detergent, turning on the machine, and walking away. About 30 minutes later—clean clothes!

Now we all know it’s important to keep our outer selves clean and wear clean clothes every day. But it’s also important to keep our inner selves clean. You don’t need a washing machine to do that. You don’t even need to find the nearest stream and pound out the dirt. All you need to do is go before God, confess your “dirty laundry,” and God will wash away your sins.

David knew that clean feeling that comes when we confess our sins before God and we are confident that he forgives us. Read Psalm 51, and rejoice with David that we have a God who is able to clean us daily—without scrubbing!

Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow (Psalm 51:7).

To Do

What do you need to confess to God today? Give him your “dirty laundry” and let him wash you clean.

Also on this day . . .

1885—The Salvation Army was officially organized.

1979—A major accident occurred at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. A nuclear power reactor overheated and suffered a partial meltdown

1983—Sally Ride became the first woman in space.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.