Hide in plain sight
Thought- When we are willing to come before Jesus in humility, truth and weakness, He will provide us His strength.
Scripture- “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.” Psalm 145:18-19
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Insight: When we sin, our first reaction is to ashamedly try to run from it or “hide-out.” We shouldn’t be surprised when this happens to us, it was exactly the initial reaction of Adam and Eve at the moment of original sin in the Garden. Genesis 3:10 says initially Adam tried to “hide” from God: “He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Have you ever tried to hide something from God? I have and it sure didn’t go to well. I was ashamed of a decision I had made along with my girlfriend at the time in College. The weight of the unrepented sin was an anchor around my soul for many years. When I finally found the “courage” to admit my error, and repent of it, I was shocked at the grace and forgiveness I felt. It was like a giant gorilla of burden had been lifted from me. In my weakness and humility, finally confessing the truth of what I had been trying to “hide,” I experienced God’s power in the most profound way I ever have.
The whole notion of thinking we can hide anything from God is so counterproductive. God is Omniscient so by fact He knows everything about us, yet our first reaction is to hide. I have since found that it is much better to simply come forward, the quicker the better, and in truth bring our sins into His light. That is the only place where real cathartic healing can take place. If we don’t do this, the sin only compounds with more and more consequences. After we try to run and hide from our sin, the next stage is to blame others. This only delays the consequences and ultimately leads to even more pain and damage. Genesis 3:12-13 shows the instant downward spiral of the relationship between Adam and Eve when they feel the weight and shame of their sin and instantly begin the blame game: “The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The blame game always leads to even more broken relationships. The truth is there will always be consequences to our sin, but the bigger truth is that the sooner we bring the truth to God in humility and weakness, the sooner He can begin to restore our brokenness and remove the heavy burden of sin from our heart.
Prayer: Father God, thank you that you want us to approach you, in humility, truth and weakness and confess our sins to you. When we do, we can feel your strength as you heal our wounds and get us back on our feet, free from the crushing weight of our sin. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen!