And there 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. Hebrews 4:13
In my preteen years, after my parents divorced, my sister and I went to church with our grandparents. On Sunday evening and Wednesday evening, we would arrive about an hour before services started to allow my grandparents time to clean the building. While they cleaned, we played basketball on the small court beside the building with a group of kids from the community. This time was spent largely unattended, though my grandparents would step around occasionally to check on things. I kept noticing three of the teenage kids slinking around to the back of the building for a few minutes at a time before rejoining us on the court. What were they doing back there? The curiosity finally got the best of me, so I went to find out.
When I rounded the corner, they jumped, threw their cigarettes down, and extinguished then with their feet. Knowing they were not supposed to be smoking, they were seeking a place to hide to avoid detection. They expressed their relief that it was just me and not one of the adults or else they would have been in trouble. At the age of eleven, I joined them in this behavior and soon developed the same habit of sneaking and hiding my wrong behaviors. One day, as I stood at the back of the building smoking a cigarette, thinking I was getting away with my sin, I heard my grandfather’s voice behind me. My stomach tightened and churned as I was immediately stricken with guilt and shame. My repeated breach of faith with him was now out in the open.
Up until that day, I had a real sense that I was getting away with something, just as those other kids thought they were. People do this all the time as we give in to temptation and think we are going undetected. Such is no surprise when people in the world sneak around doing things that they know ought not to be done. Sadly, we Christians are not immune to deceiving ourselves into thinking we are getting away with our sins. Though we may pull the wool over the eyes of our families, friends, brothers, church family, employers, etc., we are caught before we even commit the act.
Our God is everywhere and knows everything, including the secrets of our hearts (Psalms 44:20-21; John 2:25). Let us consider a few passages in this vein to help us conquer this temptation Satan uses to dupe us into deceitful behaviors. Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” Psalm 139:1-4 speaks of God’s comprehensive knowledge of humanity’s doings. David understood that God had searched him and known him (vs. 1), knew his sitting down and his rising up (vs. 2), understood his thoughts from afar (vs. 2), was acquainted with all his ways (vs. 3), and there was not a word on his tongue that God did not know altogether (vs. 4). In verses 7-12 of this same psalm, David laid bare the absurdity of thinking there is any place one may go that the Lord is not present.
The Hebrews writer utilized this truth in urging his readers not to fall into disobedience and miss the rest that awaits the faithful (Hebrews 4:11-13). He pointed them back to the exposing power God’s word has on the condition of our souls (vs. 12) before concluding with a reminder that the One to Whom we must give account sees everything (vs. 13). As Solomon said, “God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). So, the next time we are tempted to sin and try to hide it, we may “…be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). Since we have noWHERE to hide, let us live lives wherein we have nothing to hide.