How often do we break God’s heart? Like the children of Israel in the wilderness, we often grieve our Heavenly Father by trying to hide our sins and secrets. 

Sin comes in all shapes and sizes: dishonesty, cheating, affairs, pornography, and addictions of every kind. We even pretend all is well, when our finances, our marriage, our job, our kids, etc. are in crisis. We act one way at church or with Christian friends and a different way in other settings. David makes it plain in Psalm 32 that unconfessed sin is destructive…physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Yet, many choose to live a complicated, claustrophobic, cumbersome life, filled with sin and deception.

Why we remain in this misery is difficult to comprehend. Often, we underestimate our situation. We live in denial. Things are fine. Our sin has blinded us to the truth, and we don’t recognize the severity of our situation. 

Another reason we live with sin is because we aren’t desperate enough to come clean. God will allow the pain to increase and things to get more and more unbearable until we face reality and come to our senses.

Another reason we continue in our mess is because we don’t understand God’s grace. Many have made God out to be a cruel judge, an angry parent, or a harsh disciplinarian. If this is your image of God, fear is likely keeping you from trusting God. That is not who God is! God is gracious and merciful. He loves you so much that He sent His son Jesus to die for your sins! He created you fearfully and wonderfully and wants nothing more than for you to come to Him, trust Him.

In Proverbs 28:13 we are instructed to confess and turn from our sin and receive mercy. So, Confess! Admit your sin to God. Name it, bring it into the light of His truth. Then turn away from the sin. Declare, you will no longer go down this path. Chart a new course. Allow God’s light to flood your heart, mind and soul.

Remember that God forgives completely. This is hard to comprehend because even when we forgive, we can’t forget, but God is not like us. He says in Hebrews 8:12 that He will not remember our sins! Don’t focus on the past, focus on the future. Allow God to do a new thing in your life.

Verses: (Ps 78:40) Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland. (Pr 28:13) People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. (2 Co 4:4) The god who rules this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers. They cannot see the light, which is the good news about our glorious Christ, who shows what God is like. (Ep 5:13-14) But when you expose them, the light shines in upon their sin and shows it up, and when they see how wrong they really are, some of them may even become children of light! That is why God says in the Scriptures, “Awake, O sleeper, and rise up from the dead; and Christ shall give you light.”

Scriptures: Psalm 78:40 (NLT), Proverbs 28:13 (NLT), Psalm 32:3-5 (CEV), 2 Corinthians 4:4 (CEV), Ephesians 5:13-14 (LB), Mark 8:36-37 (LB), Psalm 40:12 (NLT), Hebrews 8:12 (NLV), Isaiah 43:18-19

Questions: Do you ever consider that your actions or thoughts break God’s heart? How do secrets and hidden sin complicate life? Why is confessing and naming our sin so important when God, in fact, already knows it all? Read Psalm 32:3-5 and reflect on the physical, emotional and spiritual pain that unconfessed sin brings. 

Prayer: Father, thank you for reaching me and for forgiving me. I praise you for your wonderful grace that is greater than all my sins. Thank you for accepting me, loving me, and taking away the guilt. Help me to live daily in the light of your presence. In Jesus Name I pray, amen.