Darkness Hides the Flaws
By Shauna Leis
“My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.”
1 Corinthians 4:4-5
Several years ago, my husband and I were very blessed to be able to build our own home from scratch. Every detail was ours to go through and decide, even down to the light switches and bathroom tub drain covers. However, with much detail comes much responsibility in verifying everything has actually been completed according to the plan. We spent much time over at the house from the day that they first started excavating the land to the day that they handed us the keys and were allowed to move in. It was a great experience, and we learned so much from those days.
The one thing that we quickly realized, though, was that it was very difficult to do any type of inspection in the dark. Until all of the light fixtures were installed and light bulbs were actually in them and functioning, we were very reliant upon the natural light provided by the sun coming in through the various windows. And, when you are talking about being in a walk-out basement, the stairwell and back bedrooms were difficult to see very well at all to know if there was anything wrong in them or not. We carried flashlights and lamps with us everywhere we went.
One of the last things that we were inspecting was the drywall before the paint went up to determine small imperfections that would become very noticeable once the paint had been completed. We did the best that we could with the dark house to mark as many of them as we could find. However, once the light fixtures were installed and the paint was applied, those imperfections we missed almost screamed out at us walking down the stairwell. And the back bedroom in the basement even had a PVC pipe sticking out through the drywall that we completely did not see until it was too late. The darkness did a great job at hiding the flaws from us.
Dear one, many of our own lives are in much the same state. Ephesians 5:8a says, “For you were once darkness.” Please do not miss the wording of this particular verse as it says the people were darkness, not that they were in darkness. There are so many sins and issues in our lives that we attempt to hide in our own darkness. We believe that if we keep them hidden enough, then God will never see them, and we will never have to deal with them. Those sinful thoughts that we keep hidden in the recesses of our minds – we never say them out loud, but we sure do think of them often. Or those funds that we pilfer away from work dollar by dollar. They are never missed because they are so small. Or those looks that we give or words that we say about people behind their backs. The list could go on and on.
God, however, does not believe in leaving even the smallest of details uncovered because He knows that little things very quickly evolve into large matters when left unattended. Job 12:22 indicates, “He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light.” God comes in and literally turns the light on with His light - the light of His mercy and His grace. When we allow God access to all of the dark and hidden places in our lives, His light will shine brightly so that those hidden things can now be revealed and fixed.
However, we must be willing to open up these areas to Him. Read with me Ephesians 5:8-13. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible.” Oh friend, that is what we needed for our house. We needed the flaws to become visible before they could be fixed. In much the same manner, we must allow our own sinfulness to be “visible” to God so that He can deal with it and wash us clean from this sin. Does God know our sin before we tell Him? Of course He does. However, if we confess it out loud with our mouths and repent, then we are making it visible before the Lord and allowing Him to take it away.
Have you ever tried to grow plants in the dark? No. Why? Because plants need light to survive. It is part of what makes them a plant. Just like plants, the fruit of our spirit needs light to survive. We must have the light of God in our lives exposing all the pieces and parts that do not bring Him glory. In the light we thrive. Micah 7:8b says, “Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.” And John 8:12-13 indicates, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’" Friend, God so longs to be your light today. He wants to go in and open up the hidden places and expose them to the light of day so that you can be all that He designed you to be. He longs to light up your life so that it can bear fruit for Him. Will you let Him today?
Pray with me: Abba, Father, we long for You to come in and light up our lives. We want You to expose all of those flaws so that we can deal with them before You and be rid of them before they can get worse. Lord, shine that light all throughout our hidden places that we think no one sees. Teach us how to be more like You and to follow in Your ways. We desire to be a part of the light. God, we love You so very much and pray all of this in the name above all names, Jesus Christ! Amen.