When I was going through a 12 step recovery group called ‘Celebrate Recovery’, I learned how much of my joy had been stolen by hiding. From the time I was a child I learned that bad things happen when you are ‘found out’. So I learned to hide. Hide my emotions, hide my habits, hide, hide, hide. But hiding is a lie. It’s a lie that says, “If you hide, you’ll be safe.” But the truth is, hiding is the most dangerous thing you can do. It’s dangerous because it keeps you from being known. It keeps you from truly receiving love. It keeps you from feeling joy. And maybe most importantly, it keeps you from being free. When you are hiding you aren’t able to be honest with youself and when you are in denial (which is what that is), you won’t be able to change.
- There is no hiding from God
- Genesis 3:8-10 (NIV) Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
- Proverbs 28:13 (NIV) “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Concealing guilt only leads to isolation and further distress, but confessing brings mercy and healing.
- Luke 12:2-3 (ESV) “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.”
- Hiding makes it worse
- Psalm 32:3-5 (NIV) “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long… Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
- 1 John 1:8-9 (NIV) “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
- Come into the Light
- John 3:19-21 (NIV) “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
- James 5:16 (NIV) “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
- Psalm 139:7-12 (NIV) “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?… Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
- Hebrews 4:13 (NIV) “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
- Isaiah 1:18 (NIV) “‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.‘”
- Romans 8:1 (NIV) “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” In Christ, there is no need to hide in shame or guilt because we are freed from condemnation.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV) “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”