PROVERBS 28: GETTING RID OF HIDDEN SIN

Proverbs 28:13 reminds me of John 3:20, which says, Everyone who does evil hates the light.... Trying to hide our sins from God is useless, because He sees and knows all.

It is our secrets that make us sick. James 5:16 says we are to confess our faults to one another so that we may be healed and restored. Evil hates the light, but God is light (John 9:5), and He calls us to live in the light and be the light of the world (Matthew 5:16; 1 John 1:7). This means we cannot hide our sins and walk in God’s will at the same time.

I think we experience freedom when we realize that God sees and knows all things and that nothing and no one is hidden from Him. Admitting and confessing our sins is equivalent to gathering them up and throwing them away. We give them to Jesus, and He gives us His forgiveness. What a wonderful exchange! He forgets our sins and removes them as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

If you have hidden sin in your heart, I urge you not to live one more day that way. Talk to God about it, and, if needed, speak with a trusted and spiritually mature leader or friend about it. Talking with someone else about our sins is often very helpful. As the old saying goes, “Confession is good for the soul.” Telling someone about our sin may be embarrassing, but a little embarrassment is worth the freedom we gain from no longer carrying the burden of secret sin.