December 9, 2024

Hebrews 4.13 (NIV) 

For nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

We cannot worship God when we are hiding unconfessed sins.*

I attended a Bible college where the dorm rooms opened up to the outside rather than to an inside hallway. For security reasons, we were not allowed to leave our rooms after curfew, even to visit another dorm room. However . . . one night, my roommate, another friend (who was visiting in our room “illegally”), and I crept down the walkway to check on Jill (the “why” is another story!). When we heard the dorm mom stop outside Jill’s door, everyone panicked and scrambled to hide in the bathroom – including Jill. When the dorm mom started knocking, I hissed at Jill to go open the door. “This is your room! It’s okay for you to be in here!” but she wouldn’t budge. When I heard keys rattling, I knew we were busted. I decided that I would rather open the door and face my fate than to be caught hiding in the bathroom.

There’s a slim chance that if we had kept quiet, and if Jill had been better at subterfuge, the dorm mom would not have felt a need to search Jill’s room and no one would have gotten into trouble that night. That would never happen with God. There is not enough sneakiness in the world to pull off such a stunt with him. You can’t hide from God so why try? Why don’t you just “come out of the bathroom” and face him with what you’ve done? What’s the worst that could happen? He already knows where you are hiding and why. There may be natural consequences for your actions but he has taken care of the eternal consequences. Confess your sins. Repent. And let the new life begin!

Private sin is an evil warden that Satan employs to keep us locked up, silent, and hopeless in a dungeon that reeks with fear.*