Truth and Freedom

I have a confession to make. After all these years of travelling in hot climes, I still haven’t got my head around sun protection. This sounds ominous, but the worst happens in England, where sun doesn’t always make a regular appearance. Last summer, we spent some time snorkelling in a hot place. I ended up with an inch-wide waistband of sunburn, because I didn’t take into consideration that when you are face-down in the water, your t-shirt doesn’t always stay tucked into your shorts. I also ended up with ‘knee pads’ of sunburn, as I didn’t take on board that when you sit down, your shorts tend to naturally ruck up. I wasn’t alone in this. My wife, Lynne, ended up with a beautiful imprint of both hands on the top of her thighs, because of the way she was sitting for some time in the sun.

It got me to thinking that our relationship with God is a bit like this. Like the sun’s rays, He misses nothing, not just on the outside (our actions), but more importantly what is going on inside of us, the way we think and feel. Our relationship with Him should be one of great honesty and openness. Instead of trying to hide from Him, we should pray along the lines of “Lord, You know me through and through. You know that I have difficulty with this, be it a thought not pleasing to You, or a sinful desire. Please help me with this. Change my heart, create in me a pure heart, or reveal to me strategies that might help. I am so sorry that I do this.”

The good news is that God loves us so much that He delights in us bringing things like this to Him. We need not fear exposure, as He loves us. We can be careful about what we share with other people, but we need not fear Him, as He knows it all anyway.

With this kind of honest and open relationship with our Maker, there is an incredible freedom. Trying to hide or deny things will keep them in darkness and can be used by the enemy as a snare. Better to pray as David did in Psalm 139 when he says, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See me if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”