You saw that?

Have you ever had someone approach you with, "I shouldn't be telling you this, but..."? Inside they are just aching to tell someone the tidbit of information they believe they are the only ones to know. It is like they have some 'inside track' and they want someone else to know it. What they may not know is that some secrets or 'inside track' stuff isn't really known to 'just them'. God knows all things - there are no secrets from him! So, even the best kept secrets are known by at least one other! Some secrets of the heart are not the most pleasant ones for others to know - they are downright uncomfortable to have 'exposed'. How about the secret that someone is struggling inwardly and they don't want others to know about the nature or depth of that struggle? They want these secrets of their heart to be kept, but the things we feel we must keep to ourselves can be the things that we often believe are too difficult to for others to know about us.

Even hell holds no secrets from God—do you think he can't read human hearts? (Proverbs 15:11)

For some, a secret is something that only the "privileged" have any access into knowing. For others, a secret is more of a "gossip" channel. It could even be a means of controlling individuals through "protected information" that only you know about the individual. Regardless of the "reason" for the secret held, it can be both a burden, or a blessing for some, depending on the type and nature of the secret. There have been times when a secret is shared with me, knowing very well it will be revealed by the individual at a later time, but I am told 'in confidence' that something is about to happen. The timing isn't right, all the individuals who need to know before the facts become 'common knowledge' haven't been 'made in the know' yet, or the individual isn't quite ready to let the cat out of the proverbial bag yet.

Some things are kept concealed (secret) because we don't want others to know at all - we are just too doggone afraid of what others will think or say or do if they know the secret. The fact remains that there are no secrets from God. As a matter of fact, even Satan's domain (his "neighborhood" and "acquaintances") cannot even hold secrets from God. The fact is that God has a good hold on the human heart and he knows what we try to keep bottled up there - there are not really 'hidden areas' of our lives that he isn't already fully aware exist. Try as we might, we cannot hide our true struggles, the not-so-holy intentions, and the frequent compromises we make in our lives. We might think we have managed to bottle them up, but how is it we think we can keep what is inside the bottle hidden from the one who created the bottle in the first place?

Over the years, there is one thing I have done with the "secret" stuff of my heart and that is to frequently and honestly ask God to expose it. Sometimes we don't even know what all is hidden in the recesses of our minds, our emotions, and our desires. We almost get "caught off guard" by the stuff that surfaces on occasion - thinking we had "dealt" with that stuff a long time ago and it would never show up again. When it surfaces, we are surprised by it and often struggle afresh with the challenge that having this "secret" presents in our relationships, activities, and motivations. God has more knowledge about each one of us than we'd like to imagine he possesses. He knows each compromise - big or little. He understands the motives behind each action - good or bad. He holds the keys to breaking through addictions, bad habits, secretly held compromises - knowing exactly what needs focus in order to live beyond each of them.

Trying to hold "secrets" from God is pretty foolish indeed! Tucking things away in the recesses of our minds and refusing to deal with the unpleasant side of life's everyday struggles just doesn't cut it. God has already seen it, heard it, and prepared for it! He already knows it exists even before we are aware of the issue ourselves. There is nothing we can hide - no place we can "tuck it away" unnoticed. If we are serving the Lord, all is "fair game" for his touch and his grace! The best thing we can do with the secrets of our heart is to give them to the one who knows exactly what to do with them. The worst thing we can do with them is think that they will remain secret forever! We all have them, if we will be honest with ourselves. Isn't it about time that we give him access to what we have been so determined to keep tucked away? Just askin!

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