I've Been Exposed! It's A Good Thing

     I remember as a teen knowing that smoking was bad for me.  My father had been a smoker and made it well known that he didn’t want me to start that horrible habit.  Still, curiosity got the best of me and I tried it, multiple times.  But I didn’t smoke out in the open. I hid in a wooded area behind the drug store in hopes that Mom and Dad would never find out.  My brother rode by one day and I prayed that he would go away and keep my secret safe.  But he didn’t.  Thankfully, I was caught and the horror of ever being caught again kept me from committing a repeat offense.

      Today I was reading Luke chapter 8 which contains the story of Christ healing a demon-possessed man.  It is interesting to note that the crowd of people who witnessed the healed young man “begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them.”  (Luke 8:37, NLT)  I wondered what it was that caused them such great fear.  Did they fear what they did not understand or were they afraid that Christ would look on them and see their darkest secrets?  Maybe they feared being exposed the same as I had when I glimpsed my brother riding by that fateful day.  With this thought in my mind, I am wondering, do I tell God to "go  away"?

      I suspect that we all have things we like to keep hidden… skeletons in the closet, so to speak.  One of my children likes to hide in his closet when he knows he has done wrong.  I sometimes hear his little voice from within the closet say, “Leave me alone.”   In the same way we adults sometimes hide our faces or duck around corners to avoid seeing people who have exposed us.  I know I have.  Many even quit their jobs or move away just to avoid facing their failures.  I don’t like to admit when I have done wrong.  Yet when Christ came into my life, He began to expose my hidden secrets.  See, God specializes in revealing the sins that weight us down.  His purpose in revealing our sin is to heal us and give us peace, the kind of peace that you get when you know you have been forgiven.  Did you ever get caught in a string of lies and find, to your surprise, that you were relieved when someone exposed you?   That’s what I’m talking about.  That very moment of relief is a glimpse of what it is like to have God’s peace.  When we try to hide our sin, or guard it and tell God to ‘go away’, then we throw away any chance of knowing His peace. 

Psalm 32: 2-5
Blessed is the one
   whose sin the LORD does not count against them
   and in whose spirit is no deceit.
When I kept silent,
   my bones wasted away... 
Then I acknowledged my sin to you
   and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
   my transgressions to the LORD.”
And you forgave
   the guilt of my sin.


Maybe today is the day you will allow God to expose your secrets and give you peace.