“Cleanse me from secret faults.” Psalm 19:12 NKJV
“God has the answer to your secrets; Confession!”
My thoughts today are about “secret faults.”
Across the years, I have observed in mine and others’ lives that secret faults create distance between people. There is usually a reason for the things you feel unable to share. Occasionally, you may think you are protecting someone else, but usually you are just protecting yourself.
Secret faults cause shame, and shame seeks to hide in the shadows. It began in Eden where Adam and Eve hid themselves from God, not so successfully. Secrets are things we are afraid to allow in the light of day. And whatever requires shadows results in guilt, and guilt doesn’t go away just because you hide and repress it.
God doesn’t allow you to have secrets from Him. Because He loves you and knows that keeping secrets hurts you most of all, and diminishes your ability to be open and real with God. First, you need to realize that you have no secrets from God; you only hope you do! The Bible says God knows the very “thoughts and intents of the heart.” Secondly, anything that you allow to stand between you and God damages your spiritual relationship, and human relationships as well.
Secrets make life lonelier. Have you noticed that you can tell when a friend is reluctant to tell you something? Every parent senses when their child is hiding something. I am not sure how that works, but I know that it does. You will tend to avoid a person from whom you are withholding.
Secrets change you, and not for the better. What you hide makes you someone different than you really are or want to be. That’s one of the worst things about a secret. You will always act “less like yourself” when you are keeping a secret.
Secrets always come out eventually. “Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing covered that will not be uncovered . . therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in an ear in private rooms will be shouted from the housetops.” Luke 12:1-3 HSB.
“Who understands his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless.” Psalm 19:12-14. Notice the progression of sin: errors, secret faults, willful wrongs, and dominating sins. But also note there is a way to be blameless! The answer is the same as it was for King David. Read Psalm 32:1-5 NIV.
God has the answer to your secrets; confession! Confession is the answer for guilt and shame. See 1 John 1:7-9 NKJV. My dear friend, Campbell, often said, “Sin leaves a life only one way – through his mouth, by confession to God.” Here’s God’s warning and pledge: “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:13 NIV. Confession will give you relief, temporarily. Renouncing the sin you confess gives you release eternally.
My prayer for you today is that you will live clean and clear before God.