When
my daughter got into high school, her
behavior started to change. She became withdrawn and started to rebel against
everything. I knew something was wrong, I just didn’t know what.
have always had a very open and honest relationship; she came to me about
everything.
was keeping secrets from me that began to build a wall between us. No matter
how hard I tried I could not seem to break through or get around it.
morning, she told me that she was getting a ride to school because she had to
be there early for some class. In the depths of my being, I knew she lied to
me, but I let her go.
walked down the driveway and crawled into the car that was waiting at the end
of the lane.
to my daughter, a few months before we had GPS tracking installed on our
children’s phones, just in case we ever needed it. According to Google maps,
she was nowhere near her school.
picked up the phone and informed her that she was caught. She came home that
day from school and I told her it was time to come clean.
a very long and drawn out argument she finally broke down and asked how I knew
she was keeping secrets from me.
told her that no matter what she did, no matter where she went, God, her Father
and my Father, saw for me.
was the one that told me to pray for her more and more, to keep trying to reach
her, and to not give up on her. She thought she was keeping all these secrets,
but God saw it all. God sees.
all, even the secrets we try to keep hidden.
taint our hearts and our lives.
build up a wall between man and wife, daughter and mother, son and father,
friend and friend. They separate us because secrets are sins.
the book of Joshua, we learn about a man named Achan. He was of the tribe of
Judah, and fought alongside his brothers and sisters as they overtook Jericho.
God told them that they were to destroy everything. Nothing was to be left over
and they were not to keep anything for themselves. All of it had to be
destroyed.
Achan saw some things he just couldn’t let go off, hid them and thought no one
saw. But God did see, and Achan’s secret affected the entire nation of Israel.
face and asks “Why?” What has caused this separation between God and His
people.
the people from God
into the camp
the children of Israel
have to be kept hidden. But, as we see, nothing is ever really hidden is it?
pits for our secrets to stay hidden.
hide your secrets from man, but they are never hidden from God.
also learn from this account in Joshua that God gave Achan opportunity after
opportunity to confess his secret before the Lord and before the people.
verse 14-15 we read that God brought forth his clan, then He brought forth the
households, then man by man God drew Achan out.
this: Achan had every opportunity to
come clean, to confess his secret before all of Israel and God.
he kept them hidden in his tent, buried under the dirt. But isn’t that exactly
what we do with our secrets, with our sins? We hold them in our hearts, we
don’t want anyone else to know about them. We bury them and cover them with the
dirt of more sin.
no matter how deep we try to bury them, they are not truly hidden because even
through the dirt, our Father sees.
is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the
eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
called Israel accountable for the sins they were hiding, for the sin Achan was
hiding.
wants us to see that secrets hinder us, they destroy us and we are not able to
stand firm against our enemies when secrets have settled in our hearts.
affect everyone.
That secret you kept from your husband has put up a wall between you two and
that intimacy you once shared has been damaged by it.
secret you kept from your boss has affected the way you do your job, and you
don’t give your best anymore.
away from sin because He is withholding something fun and good from us. He
tells us to get up and get away from sin because it hurts us and it hurts
others.
then, how do we, as children of God, turn away from these secrets, these sins
we have buried in the dirt of our tents?
holy and consecrated life before God?<<
confess our sins and then we put that sin to death.
put our secrets to death.
confessed his sin before Joshua, before Israel and before God. He laid bare his
transgression and freely confessed the hidden secrets of his heart, and then
death was brought to him and to the things he had kept secret. You may think
this is extreme, but when it comes to dealing with sin in our lives, we must be
extreme.
your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is
better for you to enter into life lame and maimed, rather than having two hands
or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. And if your eye causes you
to sin pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into
life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.”
we get serious about our sins, we will continue to bury them and hide them. But
do not forget that you are not hiding from God.
may have everyone else fooled, but you are not fooling God.
have buried within. Confess them, be free of them and God will teach you how to
walk with Him again.
defeat us over and over again. Quit handing him your weapon and stand to fight
again! Amen.
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