Bible Verse of the Day Monday September 27th 2021

 Proverbs 5:21 For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths.

In 1982, "ABC Evening News" reported on an unusual work of modern art, a chair affixed to a shotgun. It was to be observed by sitting in the chair and looking straight into the shotgun's barrel. The gun was loaded and set on a timer to fire at an undetermined moment within the next one hundred years. The astounding thing was that people waited in lines to sit and gaze into the shell's path. They all knew the gun could go off at any moment, but they were gambling that the fatal blast wouldn't happen during their minute in the chair. It was reckless and foolish, yet many people who wouldn't dream of sitting in that chair live a lifetime gambling that they can get away with sin. So foolishly, they ignore the risk until the inevitable self-destruction.

It is in our worldly human nature to think that God might excuse any sin we might commit if it does not get exposed to the light of day. The term "Hidden Sin" is a misnomer or a contradiction in terms, God does not only see everything we do, but He knows why we do it. When we arrive at the fulness of the realization that nothing escapes God's view, the necessity to call on God for His mercy becomes crucial. We view many needs in our lives as essential; however, there is none more important than our need for a Savior. If we come up short of that realization, we will remain captive to our sins.  Jesus came to the earth to set captives free; however, the only chains that we will be set free from are the ones that we freely admit we have. (Luke 4:18 b; Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 49:9 a)

Satan has many subtle but effective strategies to lure us into sin; one of those is to cause us to retreat in silence. This smokescreen happened to Adam and Eve when they committed their first sin in the Garden of Eden. One of the first things our first parents did was to try to hide from  God. But as they quickly discovered, that is an impossibility (Genesis 3:8). So, then the second thing they did was start the blame game; Adam said Eve made him do it, and Eve said the Devil made her do it. This excuse is simply another form of trying to hide sin from God, put the blame on someone else, and you might stay hidden, "out of sight out of mind," as it were.

The beauty of the Cross of Calvary is that it clearly shows us that we are all sinners (Romans 3:10; 3:23). The ultimate beauty of the Cross is that it not only shows us that we are a sinful people, but it brings us God's love, His mercy, and grace needed to justify those sins. We don't need to try to hide or justify our sins because Christ Jesus has already done that on the Cross of Calvary (Psalm 103:12). Trying to hide our sins from those around us will have devastating results; instead of concealing our sins from people and God, it will hide God's face from us (Isaiah 59:2).

The Major turning point in our lives is when we can see ourselves and our sins as God sees them. Attempting to hide sin is just a futile endeavor to divert our attention and others away from our true selves and hope that everything will be alright. But unfortunately, we see from the life of King David that that is not a simple or easy thing to do. His beautiful prayer recorded in Psalm 51:1-2 shows us that we need to ask for His forgiveness after we acknowledge our sins to God.

When we choose to live a life attempting to hide sin from those around us, it not only will darken our relationship with our Lord and Savior but will have physical and emotional consequences on our wellbeing. On the other hand, living as one "keeping in step with the spirit" (Galatians 5:25) not only affords us the entire life of victory promised us by Christ Jesus, but will make available to us offensive and defensive protection (The Armor of God: Ephesians 6:10-18). We will need this because we are in a war. There will be constant battles we will have to fight with Satan. that seems like bad news, but the good news is that Our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus will never leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5), and we will never have to fight those battles alone.