PROVERBS 20:27 - The spirit (conscience) of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching and examining all the innermost parts of his being.
One summer our two granddaughters were visiting us. They were pre-teen cousins who had not seen each other in a long time. So for about two hours straight after they arrived, all I heard was giggling, laughing, and loud talking from their room. Since they were having so much fun, I had decided to fix one of their favorite meals for dinner…homemade pizza.
When I put the pizzas in the oven, I walked back to their room to let them know when dinner would be ready. Well when I opened the door, I could hardly believe the mess before my eyes. The room looked like a tornado had touched down inside. Their suitcases were empty; all their things were on the floor. I just thought, “If they can make this kind of mess in just two hours, what’s going to happen in a week.”
I told them, “Hey nietas…it looks like a tornado came through here. Clean up this mess before you eat. We don’t allow ‘tornados’ in this house.” (“Nietas” is Spanish for granddaughters. Nietos and Nietas were names I would occasionally call the grandkids).
Well after about 20 minutes I went back to tell them that dinner was ready. They ran out of the room laughing saying, “Thank you papa!”, and headed to the kitchen. As I glanced at their room, I noticed that their suitcases were still empty. I knew that they couldn’t have hung up all their clothes that fast. Then I noticed one shoe sticking out from under the bed.
I walked around the bed and saw the matching shoe. Then I did what any experienced papa with seven grandkids would do…I looked under the bed. I then discovered why their suitcases were emptied and how they “finished” cleaning so quickly. They tried to hide all their clothes under the bed. On the surface the room looked okay, but the “mess” was hiding under the bed.
Are you trying to hide something from God to cover up a “mess” in your life? Perhaps a bad attitude or “evil intent”? Unforgiveness? Ill will towards someone? Lust for something or someone? A lack of self-control in an area of your life? Fear? The inability to wait and trust God? Selfishness? Actions you hope no one ever finds out?
Isaiah 59:2 tells us that our sins have made “a separation” between us and God, and because of that separation, we try to do what Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3:8. As soon as we hear God “walking in the garden” of our lives, we try to hide. We don’t want Him to see what’s planted in our hearts. But Psalms 69:5 makes it clear that the “wrongs I had done are not hidden” from the Lord.
In 2 Samuel 12, God sent the prophet Nathan to King David to reveal the “clothes under his bed”, i.e., his adultery with Bathsheba and the actions he took to get her husband killed. Perhaps this Proverb is a “Nathan” in your life letting you know that nothing is hidden from the Lord. If so, take the first step of getting back right with God…pray a heartfelt, sincere prayer of repentance like Psalms 51.
There is no need to try to hide the “mess” of your life before the Lord…He sees it all anyway. Its best to be honest with Him and humbly allow Him to do some “house cleaning” by the power of His Word through the Holy Spirit.