By Shirley Rosemarie Evans
Instead of shame and dishonour,
you will enjoy a double share of honour.
You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land,
and everlasting joy will be yours.
“For I, the Lord, love justice.
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
I will faithfully reward my people for their suffering
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Isaiah 61:7-8 NLT
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come.”
Luke 4:18-19 NLT
The idea of hiding in plain sight is said to date back to the 1600s and was a military tactic that stated that soldiers could be posted anywhere on the battlefield as long as they were not in direct line of view of the enemy, this was taken a stage further with the invention of early camouflage gear which meant that soldiers could essentially blend in with their environment and as such would literally be invisible in plain sight.
Many of us have become experts at hiding in plain sight. We busy ourselves on numerous ministry teams: - we sing in the praise and worship we volunteer at the food bank, and we may even be part of the evangelism outreach team. We hope that our busyness means that people won’t pay too much attention to us and as long as we keep showing up and smiling in the right places and use the right “christianees” we can stay hidden. You know the ones: - “How are you doing?” “Oh, I’m blessed and highly favoured.” Or “I am a work in progress.” Both may be true and can depict a heart that is leaning into God and being daily shaped by His word, but they can also be stock phrases we use to disguise what is really going on.
Too often shame and a lifetime of hurts will cause us to hide in all the wrong places. We find shame in the bible too, individuals who experienced shame include characters such as King David, the woman at the well and the woman with the issue of blood. King David after his affair with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband hid himself in His royal duties and military campaigns until he was confronted by the prophet Nathan. The woman at the well hid from society choosing to go & draw water when she knew others would not be there. We hide in so many ways, busyness, distraction activities, social media, being the life and soul of every social gathering or chasing success on the corporate ladder. We build parallel worlds of good works, ministries, picture-perfect marriages and families, and the list goes on. Anything that stops others from seeing the brokenness and hurt that lies not too far from the surface.
But there is one who longs for us to bring to Him all our hurts, the abuses from the past, the things we are too ashamed to share with the religious folks who all seem to have it all together. But the truth is that we all have our prideful cover-ups and our junk draws of shame. Jesus in the passage in Luke quoting from the book of Isaiah announced that He was the one who had come to release those held captive, captive by their past, captive by shame, captive by hurts. The best place to hide is in Him. Hebrews 4:16 says “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” He has grace enough to heal every place we hurt, not just heal but grace enough to transform our lives into a thing of beauty shaping us into authentic grace-filled believers.
Ask: Why does the world around us as well as ourselves look to wear masks to hide behind?
Seek: Why do we find it easier to “hide” than to openly confess all our shame-filled secrets? Have you experienced the overwhelming grace of Jesus that covered your disgraces? How did this make you feel? Perhaps you are longing to come clean but feel too ashamed. How has today’s devotion helped you?
Knock: “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Reflect on this verse then confidently go to God and thank Him for His grace that heals every hurt and shame and then tell Him of any unresolved hurts in your life and ask Him to heal them, help you to forgive if needed and exchange your mourning into joy, and dishonour for honour.
(Upper Photo by Lina Trochez on Unsplash)
(Inner Photo by Ronak Valobobhai on Unsplash )
