The burden of concealment

Achan hides his loot - Artist Unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 5-8; Psalm 32

TO CHEW ON: "When I kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all day long." Psalm 32:3


David writes Psalm 32 from a place of relief. He had covered a sin, then come clean and confessed it.  He contrasts the way it feels to be holding his secret with the relief of having confessed. Let's take a look at the effects of covering or concealing sin on David - Psalm 32:3,4:

"When I kept silent…

• "…my bones grew old…" - He felt a sense of fragility and weakness.

• "…through my groaning all day long." - He experienced day-long agony of spirit.

• "For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;" - God's presence felt heavy, not comforting.

• "My vitality was turned into the drought of summer" - he felt useless and unproductive, like a plant shrivels and grows weak without water.

A brief overview of others who practiced concealment in the Bible show more side effects of covering sin:

• Adam and Eve attempted to hide from God (Genesis 3:8), though it was and is impossible (Psalm 139:11; Luke 12:2; Revelation 6:16).

• Achan and Gehazi had to sneak around and hide their stolen treasures - Joshua 7:21; 2 Kings 5:24.

• Isaiah talks about permanent deep changes to the person who lives a life of concealment. He calls it becoming "warped" - Isaiah 47:10.

I don't know if you have ever refused to confess a known sin, but I have.  I can witness to how accurate David is in describing what it feels like.

Contrast those feelings with how everything changes for him following his confession:
He feels:

• a desire to be with God again - Psalm 32:6.

• security in God's presence -  Psalm 32:7.

• joy, expressed in singing and shouting - Psalm 32:7, 11.

• direction and purpose - Psalm 32:8.

• gratitude for God's mercy - Psalm 32:10.

If you are holding onto a secret sin thinking you can live like this indefinitely, stop kidding yourself. Expose your secret. Make it right with God and any person involved. Then watch the vitality and joy flow back into your relationship with God and others.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for David's vivid and accurate description of concealment. Help me to live my life clear and transparent before you and others. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 32

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Discovering the truth about ourselves

"David and Nathan" - Matthias Scheits

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Numbers 33-34; Psalm 51

TO CHEW ON: "Behold You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom." Psalm 51:6


David prayed this prayer after the uncanny experience of having Nathan the prophet come to him and expose his sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12).

Had Nathan caught him in the act?

No. It was God who revealed David's sin to Nathan—the God who:

• spotted Noah as righteous - Genesis 7:1.

• whispered the secrets of Saul to Samuel - 1 Samuel 9:19.

• alerted Elisha to Gehazi's sin of lying to Naaman - 2 Kings 5:26.

• kept Jesus in-the-know about the thoughts and attitudes of those around Him - Matthew 22:18; Mark 2:8; Luke 6:8; 11:17.

• gave the disciples confidence to offer the gospel to the Gentiles - Acts 15:8.

But David was a Spirit-filled man, wasn't he? Why did God need to send someone else to tell him how displeasing his sin was?

Perhaps because his involvement in that sin had opened him up to deception. Whenever his sin bothered him, which it no doubt did, he silenced the pangs of conscience or the voice of God with, 'It's no big deal' or, 'I had no other option,' or any number of other excuses we too give for committing sin. Then it took someone else, someone who heard God's voice clearly, to bring him to his senses. It was only after Nathan confronted him that he confessed to his sin (2 Samuel 12: 7,13).

God wants us to be just as scrupulously honest with ourselves—to live in truth at the deepest level. He can show us the state of our hearts. I love another David psalm where he prays: "Search me O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting" - Psalm 139:23,24.

But if we insist on living in deception, God can also send someone—our own Nathan—to tell us the truth about ourselves. The question is, will we be as receptive to such an exposé as David was? However it happens may we be as quick to acknowledge our sin and repent.

PRAYER: Dear God, please alert me to self deception. I want to have a life of truth and wisdom. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 51

MORE:  Repentance

"Repentance always brings a man to this point: I have sinned. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says that and means it. Anything less than this is a remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself.

The entrance into the Kingdom is through the panging pains of repentance crashing into a man's respectable goodness; then the Holy God, who produces these agonies, begins the formation of the Son of God in the life. The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way about" - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 7 reading.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 

No answer!

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Micah 3:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "Then they will cry to the Lord
But He will not hear them;
He will even hide His face from them at that time,
Because they have been evil in their deeds....
So the seers shall be ashamed
And the diviners abashed
Indeed they shall all cover their lips
for there is no answer from God." Micah 3:4,7


What a desperate feeling—to pray and not be heard, to expect and wait for an answer and none comes. Micah's denouncement on his contemporary prophets reminds me of Israel's first king. Saul found himself in this very predicament. After the prophet Samuel died and he faced the Philistine army, he cried out to God in desperation himself but "...the Lord did not answer him..."  2 Samuel 28:6. He felt driven to seek an answer from a witch and discovered his sealed fate (read the whole story in 2 Samuel 28:1-25).

The Bible gives some clues as to why we might pray and not get an answer:

• We have been disobedient - Deuteronomy 1:42-45.

• We are holding onto sin - Psalm 66:18.

• We have ignored God's rebuke and been indifferent to Him - Proverbs 1:23-28.

• Have have been callous toward the poor - Proverbs 21:13.

• We have despised God's laws - Proverbs 28:9.

• We have blood on our hands - Isaiah 1:15.

• We are living in sin - Isaiah 59:2 and Micah 3:4.

• We have stubbornly refused to listen to God's words in the past - Zechariah 7:11-13.

• We waver and are double-minded, asking with a doubting attitude - James 1:6-8.

• We ask with self-indulgent motives - James 4:3.

If we have been praying but the heavens seem like brass, perhaps we should examine our hearts in the light of the above to see if any of them describe us.

PRAYER: Dear God, please shine the light of Your word on my heart. Show me where my attitudes and actions have blocked the answer to my prayers. Amen.

MORE: Unanswered prayer quotes

"When He grants our prayers,
it is because He loves us.
When He does not, it is also
because He loves us." - O. Hallesby

"If the request is wrong, God says, 'No.'
If the timing is wrong, God says, 'Slow.'
If you are wrong, God says, 'Grow.'
But if the request is right, the timing is right
and you are right, God says, 'Go!'" - Anonymous

"God has not always answered my prayers.
If He had, I would have married the wrong man—several times!" - Ruth Bell Graham

All quotes from Prayer Points, compiled by Randall D. Roth, pp. 196, 197.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Not our responsibility

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ruth 1:1-22

TO CHEW ON: "… for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!" Ruth 1:13

Naomi had her situation figured out. She would return to Israel because the famine that caused her family to move to Moab was over. But it was a bitter return. For death had taken all the men in her life and with them all her hopes for grandchildren. The last thing she wanted at this point was to be responsible for the continued childlessness of her daughters-in-law. Our focus verse is almost like an apology to them that they have been implicated in what she feels is God's judgment of her.

However, here, in the middle of her trial, Naomi's sight is still partial. Wasn't she taking on herself a burden of blame that had no place on her shoulders?

But we do that too. Our health gives way, or there's a downturn in the economy, or we suffer a disaster and feel like the course of our life is set. On top of that we feel responsible for and guilty about the people we're dragging along with us into these situations.

Orpah accepted Naomi's logic and turned back. But Ruth didn't. We'll never know exactly why but I like to think she saw something attractive in even depressed Naomi's faith. In the ten-or-so years she had known the family, somehow their God had captured her heart to the extent she could say, "Your God (shall be) my God" - Ruth 1:16.

(Look! here we have it again... that personal decision to make the distant deity of an acquaintance My God)

I love how this story ends, with Ruth a big part of the solution. Here's what the women of the town, rejoicing at the time of Obed's birth (Ruth's son, Naomi's grandson) say to Naomi: "And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him" - Ruth 4:14.

What can we apply to our lives form this story? Two possibilities:

1. It's too soon to judge a situation's conclusion and meaning when we're in the middle of it.

2. God is responsible for those implicated in our problems—not us. If Naomi had insisted that Ruth return home with Orpah she would have missed out on the great climax of her life. Instead, she took Ruth back with her and made it possible for God to give her a surprise ending and show His faithfulness to Ruth as well as to her.


PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to release my circumstances and my loved ones to Your care, not take undue responsibility for them. May my words and actions help them believe that You can turn things around and care for them too. Amen.

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Remorse

Image: pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL:  Luke 22:54-23:25

TO CHEW ON:“So Peter went out and wept bitterly.” Luke 22:62


Jesus had recently predicted Peter would deny Him. At the time Peter protested, “Lord, I am ready to go with you, both to prison and to death.” Now, hours later, a mere servant woman and a couple of men, identifying Peter as a Jesus-follower elicited three vehement betrayals: “I do not know Him… I am not (one of them)… I don’t know what you’re talking about (in response to “…this fellow was with Him” - Luke 22:57, 58, 60.

The rooster crow was the ping – that and Jesus’ long, knowing look. They reminded Peter of their conversation – and he was filled with remorse: “The keen or hopeless anguish aroused by a sense of guilt; distressing self-reproach.”

Have you been there? I know I have – full of sorry, gripped with guilt, wondering why I let that person down, was silent and failed to clearly state my loyalty to Jesus, again neglected to live up to my ideals.

I guess the issue is not whether or not we’ve done something to make us remorseful, but the effect we allow it to have on our lives. In Peter’s case, when Jesus took him back to that day in a pointed conversation  (though He never made a direct reference to Peter’s betrayal - John 21:15-19), it was an acknowledgement that the betrayal was indeed real and significant. Peter needed to say the words, “I love you.” Jesus’ acceptance of Peter’s profession made things right between them and allowed Peter to forgive himself. Then Jesus restored him to even greater responsibility.

Jesus gave Peter a glimpse of who he really was by allowing this remorseful situation, and He does that for us too. When we let Him (and ourselves) down, we see how easily we can blow it. But when we return to Him, and acknowledge our betrayal, He is there to restore us (1 John 1:9), though now way less confident in ourselves, more needy of Him, like He restored Peter.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to have a realistic view of my weaknesses. May my remorse teach me to draw on Your strength, and be less confident of mine. Amen.

MORE: Good Friday

Today is the day we remember Jesus' death on the cross for us. We call it "Good Friday." The Good Friday liturgy begins with this collect:

"Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The unhealthiness of sin

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Mark 2:1-17


TO CHEW ON: "'Which is easier to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say "Arise, take up your bed and walk?"

'But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins'—He said to the paralytic, 'I say to you, arise, take up your bed and go to your house.'" Mark 2:9-11

Was Jesus, in this healing, dealing with two separate issues: 1) the man's guilt and sinfulness, and 2) his physical paralysis? Or were they linked? In other words, is personal sin implicated in our physical illnesses?

A brief study of some Bible passages shows us that the two are mentioned together more than just this once.

• Ananias and Sapphira experienced the ultimate end of sin's physical effects (death) when they lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-10).

• Paul pronounced blindness on the sorcerer Bar Jesus (Elymas) when he tried to dissuade the proconsul Sergius Paulus from putting his faith in Christ (Acts 13:11-12).

• Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, links physical sickness and death within the church to taking the Lord's Supper flippantly (1 Corinthians 11:29,30).

• James reassures those who are sick that the "prayer of faith" prayed over them by church elders will not only bring physical healing but forgiveness of sins too (James 5:14-16).

Though I would never say that all our sicknesses are a direct result of personal sin, neither can we ignore the connection. Matthew Henry says of the two in his comment on our passage:

"Sin is the cause of all our pains and sicknesses. The way to remove the effect, is to take away the cause. Pardon of sin strikes at the root of all diseases. Christ proved his power to forgive sin, by showing his power to cure the man sick of the palsy. And his curing diseases was a figure of his pardoning sin, for sin is the disease of the soul; when it is pardoned, it is healed" Matthew Henry's Commentary.

As we pray for healing for ourselves and others, let's not forget to examine our lives for causative sin in the light of God's word and with the help of the Holy Spirit.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to live transparently before You. Please convict me of sin which always has the potential to lead to physical repercussions. Amen.

MORE: Breaking it down

The temptation is to stay in the realm of theory when connecting sin and sickness. But a little brainstorming leads to a list of sins and their physical effects that we may find ourselves guilty of. I'm sure you can think of more.

• Sins of unbelief, unforgiveness, pride etc. can lead to emotional and mental dis-ease.

• Sins of sensuousness and indulgence can lead to obesity, drunkenness, addictions, and their complications.

• The sin of sexual looseness can lead to STDs.

• The sin of anger can lead to impaired judgment resulting in fights and accidents.

Cleansing word

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 14:22-15:10

TO CHEW ON: " 'You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.' " John 15:3


In our beautiful passage, John quotes Jesus' words about the mysterious oneness with Him and God that believers can have. Living within the matrix of love and obedience (John 14:23) they will have the Helper—the Holy Spirit—within them. Jesus likens them to branches attached to a main vine that bears fruit because the life of the vine (God) is flowing through them (John 15:1, 4-8).

It all sounds wonderful until we come to the part about pruning and cleansing (John 15:2).  Cleansing may be uncomfortable. Pruning may hurt. But, He assures us, they will be so worth it when we see the fruit that comes as a result (John 15:5).

One means of cleansing Jesus mentions is through the word. That idea comes up in other places in the Bible as well. Here are some ways the word is able to cleanse:

• When we obey it:

In Psalm 119:9 a young man (or, I'd submit, a man, woman or child of any age) cleanses his way by heeding the word. 1 Peter 1:22 speaks of "… purifying your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit."

• When it prunes us:

Jesus' words in John 15:3 in the context of pruning (today's focus verse) tell us that the word purifies / cleanses us as we follow its direction in what to subtract or cut or prune from our lives. James 1:21 names "filthiness and overflow of wickedness" as things to lay aside.

• When it sanctifies us:

In John 17:17 Jesus prays that the Father will "Sanctify them by Your truth." "Sanctify" means to set apart or consecrate. The picture is of God's word active in our hearts and minds separating us from the world and setting us apart for Him had the Holy Spirit-empowered life.

• When it frees us from needless guilt and legalism:

In 1 Timothy 4:5 Paul warns Timothy about those who would again burden the church with systems of food rules. He is not to get caught in introducing or enforcing bans against foods that are now allowed. In other words, they are not to let man-made rules make them feel needlessly unclean where the word allows liberty.

In our quest for fruitfulness, let's acknowledge the place of the word (the Bible) to:
- Set the standard for behavior—and obey it.
- Alert us to what needs subtracting from our lives—then purify and simplify.
- Set us apart for God—in holy living.
- Keep us from needless legalism.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to become increasingly familiar with Your word. Help me to understand it and how it relates to my everyday living, and to obey it. Amen.
MORE: Feast of St. Philip and St. James Apostles

Today the church celebrates the Feast of St. Philip and St. James.

This Collect begins the day's liturgy:


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Shame and hiding

Eve and Adam - painting by Phillip Ratner

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 3:1-15

TO CHEW ON: "And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." Genesis 3:8

 Yesterday's reading with its idyllic scene of Adam and Eve in sweet companionship with each other and God is ripped apart by the entrance of sin. Adam and Eve's eating the fruit of the Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil tree did a lot more than set them in the direction of death. One thing that happened was an immediate urge to hide.

This urge grew out of guilt and shame.

[guilt: The fact or condition of having committed an offense, especially a willful violation of a legal or moral code,

shame: a painful sense of guilt or degradation caused by consciousness of guilt or of anything degrading, unworthy or immodest...a state or condition of regret, dishonour or disgrace."]

So they went from "naked and unashamed" (Genesis 2:25) to hiding their bodies from each other and hiding themselves from God.

Throughout the Bible we discover a similar urge to hide in the presence of guilt over having committed sin. It was often accompanied by drastic results which impacted more people than just the ones who sinned:

• Achan took spoil from Jericho, hid it in his tent and as a result 36 men were killed in the battle with Ai before he was discovered. Then he and his family paid the price (Joshua 7).

• Gehazi, Elisha's servant, tried to hide the fact that he had taken Naaman's gift, offered earlier to his boss. He ended up with leprosy (2 Kings 5:20-27).

• We smile at the irony of the Israelites secretly building "high places" for idol worship. "High places"! And they thought God couldn't see? (2 Kings 17:9).

David, whose hiding episode included adultery and murder, got it right when he asked, rhetorically in Psalm 139, "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?" and answered, in effect, nowhere (Psalm 139:7-12).

I ask myself, am I keeping secrets from God? One sign that I may be is a reluctance to meet with Him (just like Adam and Eve). For I have found that when such is the case and we do get together, He invariably puts His finger on my supposed secret.

If we're not sure, we can pray the prayer David prayed at the end of Psalm 139:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;

         Try me, and know my anxieties;

 And see if there is any wicked way in me,

         And lead me in the way everlasting."

If God exposes concealed sins, Psalm 32:5 is the perfect way to deal with them:

"I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.  Selah  

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to realize the futility of trying to hide things from You. Help me to recognize "secret sins," to acknowledge and confess them, and to deal with any interpersonal fallout. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Shame and hiding

Eve and Adam - painting by Phillip Ratner

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 3:1-15

TO CHEW ON: "And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." Genesis 3:8

Adam and Eve in sweet companionship with each other and God  (Genesis 2:23-25) is ripped apart by sin. Adam and Eve's eating the fruit of the Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil tree did a lot more than set them in the direction of death. One thing that happened was an immediate urge to hide.

This urge grew out of guilt and shame.

[guilt: The fact or condition of having committed an offense, especially a willful violation of a legal or moral code,

shame: a painful sense of guilt or degradation caused by consciousness of guilt or of anything degrading, unworthy or immodest...a state or condition of regret, dishonour or disgrace."]

So they went from "naked and unashamed" (Genesis 2:25) to hiding their bodies from each other and hiding themselves from God.

Throughout the Bible we discover a similar urge to hide in the presence of guilt over having committed sin. It was often accompanied by drastic results which impacted more people than just the ones who sinned:

• Achan took spoil from Jericho, hid it in his tent and as a result 36 men were killed in the battle with Ai before he was discovered. Then he and his family paid the price (Joshua 7).

• Gehazi, Elisha's servant, tried to hide the fact that he had taken Naaman's gift, offered earlier to his boss. He ended up with leprosy (2 Kings 5:20-27).

• We smile at the irony of the Israelites secretly building "high places" for idol worship. "High places"! And they thought God couldn't see? (2 Kings 17:9).

David, whose hiding episode included adultery and murder, got it right when he asked, rhetorically in Psalm 139, "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?" and answered, in effect, nowhere (Psalm 139:7-12).

I ask myself, am I keeping secrets from God? One sign that I am may be is a reluctance to meet with Him (just like Adam and Eve). For I have found that when such is the case and we do get together, He invariably puts His finger on my supposed secret.

If we're not sure, we can pray the prayer David prayed at the end of Psalm 139:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;

         Try me, and know my anxieties;

 And see if there is any wicked way in me,

         And lead me in the way everlasting."

If God exposes concealed sins, Psalm 32:5 is the perfect way to deal with them:

"I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.  Selah  

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to realize the futility of trying to hide things from You. Help me to recognize "secret sins," to acknowledge and confess them, and to deal with any interpersonal fallout. Amen.

MORE: Shame versus guilt
Mark Yarhouse in his book Homosexuality and the Christian, makes a distinction between guilt and shame:

"Guilt is about feeling bad for something you've done. Shame is about feeling bad for who you are" - p. 158.

Keeping that in mind, shame would be the appropriate response to humanity's (and thus our own) reluctance to appear before God caused by Adam and Eve's sin. But through belief in Jesus and His death on the cross, the shame of our inherent sinfulness is no longer necessary (see Revelation 3:18-20).

(From the archives)

Implicated

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 19:1-16

TO CHEW ON: "Therefore when the chief priests and officers saw Him they cried out saying, 'Crucify Him, crucify Him!'" - John 19:16

Here we see enacted what we read about in Proverbs yesterday. The Jews' rejection of Jesus was the coming true of:

"...scorners delight in their scorning
And fools hate knowledge ...
...I have called you and you refused
I have stretched out my hand no no one regarded
... you disdained my counsel
And would have none of my rebuke
... they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord  - Proverbs 1:22, 24,25,29.

It's easy for me to shake my head and think, I would never do those things. But then I am reminded of the list of sin's fruits (yesterday's devo) and how I have tolerated them in my own life. Why all I need to do is think back to yesterday to find contention, dissension, selfishness, an 'outburst of wrath.' What Isaiah said is so true:

"All we like sheep have gone astray
We have turned every one to his own way
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" - Isaiah 53:6

So I find myself—we all find ourselves—in the scene of Jesus before Pilate and feel a pang when He says, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." For we are all implicated as "the one who delivered Me to you."

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for letting Yourself be put in Pilate's hands and paying the death penalty for my sin.

More: Above All - Michael W. Smith