We have to wonder: are there any secret places left? With social media secrets are revealed every day. Our comings and goings are known to every one thanks to technology and ‘smart’ phones. Everywhere we go there are cameras and security devices in place to record our every move. These devices are useful at times and have saved many lives, discouraged shop lifting and led to arrests and prosecution for many criminals. This is a good thing. But where does privacy and secrets have a place? Why is anything no longer considered sacred and above reproach? Where can we go to truly be alone and unwatched? Why is there a need for such scrutiny and invasion?
Is the answer because we are unable to police ourselves? Have we all become so unruly that our every move must be observed in order to keep the peace? Sadly, this is the case. So many have disobeyed the laws and scoffed at tradition that no one can be trusted anymore. The old saying, “everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty,” has been replaced with, “everyone is a suspect.” Also it seems, everyone is a judge. Secrecy and judgement are the subjects of my post today.
We all do have secrets, things we don’t want others to know about…and these are not all bad things. Some love in secret, make secret wishes, have secret hopes and dreams. Some are things we’ve done that we’re not proud of or fear getting in trouble for. Some secrets we share with certain people whom we feel we can trust not to tell. How many times have we had someone say to us…or even said ourselves, “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but”…and secrets are revealed.
I have found that truly the only one we can trust with our innermost thoughts and feelings is Jesus Christ. I can say along with Paul in 2 Timothy 1:12…”for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” The mystery of God’s love and the way to salvation through trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, was kept secret, the Bible tells us in Romans 16: 25, since the world began. 26 “But now is made manifest…” This secret is revealed in the pages of the New Testament by God’s command and has been “made known to all nations for the obedience of faith”
“For the obedience of faith.” When we have faith in Jesus, we are no longer in need of laws, security cameras and policing to keep us in line. When we follow the One who committed no sin and set our hearts to be like Him, He keeps us in line. We might get too involved with the world and pulled off course at times, but if we are truly tuned in to Him, He will lead us back into the way He wants us to go.
The word ‘secret’ and ‘secret places’ are mentioned many times in God’s word. Matthew 6:1-4 tells us that when we do alms (charitable deeds) we are not to brag to others or even let our left hand know what our right hand does, but to do them in secret…so that the Father who sees might reward us openly.
In Verse 6, Jesus goes on to tell us that when we pray, “enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
We should pray as in Psalm 19:12-14 …cleanse me from secret faults. 1 Keep me from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me…14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, o Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, o God; and renew a right spirit within me.
This world can be a scary place with little privacy or escape from present dangers. As secrets are revealed and others lives are laid open before us in the news and on social media, let us not be quick to judge but quick to raise them up to the Lord in prayer. For the Bible tells us that the mercy we show will be the same mercy shown to us. Lives and careers have been shattered by secrets from the past due to the judgement of those who see themselves as being above the law. We are not to think more highly of ourselves than of those around us. Let our words be honest and our hearts be kind remembering that but for God’s grace we could find ourselves in the same situation.
Psalm 91:1 He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: My God; in Him will I trust.
