Session 16

Why are you hiding?

From Jeremiah: A 33-Day Devotional

“My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes” (Jeremiah 16:17).  

Just because we know God sees everything doesn’t mean we don’t try to hide our sins. We hide them from family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and the people we see at church every week. Sometimes we do our best to hide them from ourselves. And even though we know God knows, we often think that if no one else can see our sins and if we’re not acknowledging them, they’ll simply go away. Sometimes we ask God to take our sins from us, but we call them just that, “sins.”

It’s easy to ask Jesus to forgive you for your sins, to take them away or to help you stop them. But have you ever wondered why it’s so easy? And why it seems like those prayers go unanswered? It’s easy because asking God to take away our “sins” when we have specific sins we know we need to deal with makes them nameless, faceless and unspecific. Does this mean that God can’t forgive them? No. Does it mean that He won’t? Not at all. Does it mean that He can’t give you the help you need to fight them? Nope.

But being unwilling to acknowledge our specific sin before God—and perhaps to confess it to someone else—may be an indicator that we’re not quite ready to let that sin go.

The first step in breaking free from any particular sin—especially one that is reoccurring and that we try to hide and ignore as much as we can—is to acknowledge it before God. Acknowledgment means confessing to God that you have committed a sin and calling that sin by name. Acknowledging sin isn’t about whether or not God knows about it. We already know He does. It’s about taking the first step to changing and healing in His strength.

Reflect:

• Is there a recurring sin in your life that you wish you could stop? Say it by name before the Lord. Ask for forgiveness, and boldly ask for a change in your life.
• Have you acknowledged a particular sin in your life before God, but you just can’t fully let it go? Your next step is probably to confess that sin to someone else. Share it with a close friend, your NewSpring Group or come to the Care Room after a service on Sunday.
• Are you willing to be the one someone else can come to confess their sins? Think about your best friend and the “worst” sin you could imagine. What if that person came to you and confessed that sin right now? Would you judge them?