All of us have ghosts in our closet. Those secret things that we hope and pray no one ever finds out about. Things that were done in the dark outside the purview of prying eyes. What were once major or minor indiscretions become looming specters of our past, peeking over our shoulder. This characteristic seems to reveal itself at important junctures in our lives, sometimes when a promotion or a new job opportunity arises, or a new relationship develops that is about to bloom into a serious commitment.
In the public arena, the scrutiny of the press, internet, social media, and various investigatory agencies dig into every crevice of our lives uncovering artifacts that are then displayed before a watching world. The graves have been opened and out crawl the phantoms of seasons gone by.
Skycam
One of my jobs is being on camera for television. Every small or great thing I do is under scrutiny. If I make a mistake, I hear about it very quickly, from my bosses, from the audience, from my detractors and my admirers. The whole world is watching.
One day just prior to going out on a “shoot” for a story, I got in an argument with my wife Nedra. I was right, of course. She just didn’t see it that way at the time! However, later when I was talking to people on camera, the thought came into my subconscious, “What if my argument with Nedra was now being broadcast live before the whole TV audience?” The thought made me very nervous. That is not a “show” I would want people to see.
Let me ask you, how you think your lifestyle or conduct would change if you knew that everything you did was being recorded on a video camera and would be shown on the nightly newscast with Dianne Sawyer, or Brian Williams?” Think about what you have done in the last twenty-four hours or the last few days. Is there anything that might cause you embarrassment? Anything that wouldn’t exactly be family fare if we all settled down to watch your life go by for our viewing pleasure?
The Not So Great Cover Up
The actual fact is that everything we are doing is being observed and recorded. We might think that far-fetched. You wouldn’t be the first to think that. From the times of antiquity, back to our original parents people have had similar thoughts.
After their original act of sin and disobedience, Adam and Eve hid and covered themselves with the first clothing made of fig leaves, because they didn’t want to be exposed. But the Lord found them and asked Adam why he was hiding and how he knew he was naked. Adam’s response was a lie and the placing of blame on Eve. It was the beginning of the cover up that future generations would perpetuate.
Shortly thereafter, Adam and Eve’s son Cain killed Abel, becoming the first murderer and he then attempted to sidestep God’s confrontation with an evasive, Am I supposed to keep track of him wherever he goes? (Genesis 4)
It was in the genes of the family of man.
Future generations followed suit:
How proudly the ungodly speak! They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut through the earth. And asking, how will God find out? Does the Most High know everything? (Psalm 73.11)
Actually, yes He does. And when one begins to realize that the Most High’s Skycam sees those things that people think they are doing in secret, it would tend to cause one to take stock. Especially if you are associated with one of the following:
The murderer rises in the dark, that he may kill the poor and needy; at night they are thieves and adulterers, waiting for the dark ‘when no one will see me,’ they say. They mask their faces so no one will know them. (Job 24.14-15)
Why delight yourself with prostitutes, or a loose woman, embracing what isn’t yours? For God is closely watching you, and He weighs carefully everything you do. (Proverbs 5.20-21)
The Old Testament prophets thundered against the sins of the people with a litany of specific violations that God saw spread before Him.
Liars, thieves, leaders who laughed about lies, adulterers burning up with lust, drunkenness, political intrigue and murder, the taking of bribes and refusing justice to the poor. God’s people mingling with the heathen and picking up their evil ways, and as a result the whole nation is weakened.
None of it is hidden, for God says,
The people never seem to recognize that I am watching them. I see them all. (Amos 5; Hosea 6)
And no nation is exempt:
He watches every movement of the nations. (Psalm 66.7)
A nation “under God” in this context takes on a whole other meaning.
Neither was the religious, churchy crowd exempt from the all seeing Eye.
God took Ezekiel the prophet on a tour of His temple in Jerusalem and asked him, Do you see what they are doing, to push Me from My Temple?
And then God took Ezekiel into what the priest’s thought were hidden rooms, and showed him the wickedness that was going on in secret. The prophet saw all sorts of hideous creatures and idols portrayed there, and the priests and the people were burning incense and worshipping the false gods. As Ezekiel watched all this in secret the Lord said to him:
Have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in their minds? For they are thumbing their noses at Me and saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t see us; He has gone away.’ (Ezekiel 8)
Today, in some churches, religious institutions and organizations, there are those who are praying for the Lord to come “visit” them for a so-called “revival.” I wonder what He would find if He did show up. For one thing, God does answer prayer and He says, if there is anything hidden, it will come to light for all to see and will be revealed before the whole congregation. (Proverbs 26.26)
Would you want your secret life revealed before all the people?
Actually this should be a common occurrence in a really vibrant spiritual church. Paul the Apostle told the Corinthian church that if an outsider came into the gathering, the prophetic spirit in and among the people would prick his conscience. As a result, as he listens, his secret thoughts will be laid bare and he will fall down on his knees and worship God, declaring that God is really there among you. (1 Corinthians 14. 24-25)
I wonder what that would do in some of our staid Sunday morning church services. People will either run away from, or run to those kind of churches.
Mind Games
The phrase recited above, that God saw what the people were doing in their minds, is, to use a term from the Sixties, mind blowing!
Think about it. At this moment God knows what you are thinking in your response to what you are reading!
It’s not only the overt, unacceptable deeds; it’s often the so-called socially acceptable conduct that many of us just wink at. The things we whisper, and say behind closed doors about one another. Gossip is like the hors oeuvres we nibble on. The tidbits of information and hearsay that are, oh so tasty. Almost always at someone else’s expense. But we just can’t help ourselves.
Pretty words may hide a wicked heart.
For instance, for some of you, who didn’t like President Clinton, or George Bush, didn’t vote for Obama (after all he’s not even American!) Be careful what you say about these leaders:
Never curse the king, (read that President) not even in your thoughts…for a little bird will tell them what you said. (Ecclesiastes 10.20)
David, who was a king, prayed, May my spoken words and unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to you, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19.14)
Paul the Apostle stated that even if we attempt the great cover up now, the day is surely coming when at God’s command Jesus Christ will judge the secret lives of everyone, their inmost thoughts and motives. (Romans 2.16)
There is an ultimate accountability.
How is you Secret Life?