Fact: “There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets.” (Daniel 2.28)
It has been my developed custom over the years, to arise early in the morning with the sunrise and spend time with the Lord. It is my favorite time of day and is possibly the most enjoyable activity of my life. In the quietness of these early morning hours, with occasional classical music of the masters playing softly in the background, I speak and listen to God through prayer and the Scriptures. My entire life is built upon this practice to the degree “I have enjoyed the Words of His mouth more than my daily food.” (Job 23.12)
This was a regular practice of the Lord Jesus, as He often went off into the hills early in the morning, before sunrise, to spend time with His Father.
It was intimate.
The Lord in turn tells us to do likewise: “When you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you and pray to your Father secretly, and your Father, who knows your secrets, will reward you.” (Matthew 6.6)
Part of that reward is hearing the God of the universe speak to me in a very personal way. It is a common occurrence for me that, “Morning by morning He wakens me and opens my understanding to His will.” (Isaiah 50.4)
Throughout Scripture God states repeatedly that He has deep and secret things, mysteries of His will, mind, heart and purposes that is His good pleasure to reveal by His Spirit. But they are reserved not just for any people but for those He particularly calls His friends. Jesus said that He would confide in those who followed Him and obeyed Him and would tell them everything the Father told Him. (John 15.15)
However, within that relationship, there are things the Lord reveals and speaks to us on a personal basis He does not want broadcast all over town.
It is like the intimacies husbands and wives share that are not for public consumption.
There were frequent occasions, during the time the Lord Jesus walked this earth that He told His disciples not to talk about what they had seen or heard. He also said the time would come when they could talk. For the most part the disciples obeyed Him. It’s interesting to note however, that when Jesus told some of those who had been healed not to tell anyone, they did just the opposite. From a natural point of view that was understandable. The point is if God reveals something to you, can you keep a secret?
Paul the Apostle was a good example of this. He talked about the fact that he had been taken up to heaven and had visions and revelations from the Lord. But he referred to that experience in the third person as “that man,” “who heard things so astounding that they were beyond a man’s power to describe or put in words, and anyway I am not allowed to tell them to others.” (2 Corinthians 12)
If most of us had that kind of experience, we would immediately be requesting to be booked on TV talk shows, fielding offers from book publishers, negotiating with Hollywood for a TV movie and go out on the lecture circuit at $25,000 a pop for the “The Secrets I Can’t Tell Tour!”
Perhaps that’s why the Lord doesn’t reveal His secrets to us.
The trustworthy person can keep a secret.
The Lord is still looking for a few trustworthy people. It is a remarkable statement that God wants to have us share His secrets with Him and He underscores it by urging us to:
“Call to Me and ask Me and I will answer you, and will tell you some remarkable secrets you have not known.”
(Jeremiah 33.3)
Now if you want a secret life, this is the secret life to have.
Behind the Secret Doors.
One of the reasons we don’t want to pursue this adventure, is that we are afraid of the locked doors of our lives being opened to the hidden chambers of our hearts. Behind these bastions lie the concealed thoughts, aims, motives, purposes, and suppressed memories, that we have built over a lifetime. It is just a little scary to have them exposed:
“He will turn on the light, so everyone can see exactly what each one of us is really like, deep down in our hearts.”
(1Corinthians 4.5)
A number of years ago, in one of those secret times I mentioned a moment ago, I thought I heard the Lord say to me in that still small voice, through the Scriptures, “You are like King David!”
“Wow!” I thought to myself, “even if that isn’t the voice of God, I like the idea.” And my fantasies went off into visions of personal grandeur. Charging off to the battle, slaying Goliath, being the hero etc. And then after settling down to reality a bit, I prayerfully thought I’d ask the Lord what He meant by equating me with King David.
“Son,” He said, “you are like David because you have a murderous and adulteress heart!”
Bam! My personal throne collapsed in a heap of ruins. I felt much like one of the prophets of old, who said when God confronted him, “Woe to me, I am undone!”
We are all carrying secrets around. We have all built walls. Many of us live in fear we will be found out. But, as we have discussed, the Lord knows all about it already:
“There is nothing concealed that won’t be disclosed. Whatever is said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be broadcast from the housetops for all to hear!” (Luke 12.3)
One of the realities of opening up the secret doors is that light comes in, and shines in all the dark corners, revealing everything hidden in the crevices of our inner rooms.
Your secrets can be dealt with in secret with the Lord now or broadcast everywhere later. One way or the other, it is going to be exposed. However, it is important to know that God doesn’t do this so that He might beat you to death with a big stick or embarrass you; His purpose is to heal you and set you free from the secret corpse you have been carrying through life.
Dialogue Through the Door
Jesus often spoke in parables, short stories, about the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. He may be speaking to you now about opening up:
Seeker:
“One night as I was sleeping, my heart awakened in a dream. I heard the voice of my beloved; he was knocking at my bedroom door.”
Lover:
“Open to me, my darling, my lover, my lovely dove” he said, “for I have been out in the night and am covered with dew.”
Seeker:
“My beloved tried to unlatch the door and my heart was excited for him. I jumped up to open it, desiring and expectant as I pulled back the bolt. But when I opened the door he was gone. My heart stopped. My loved one had tired of waiting and left. I searched for him but couldn’t find him anywhere. I called to him, but there was no reply. (Song of Solomon 5)
Oh, that I knew where to find God…that I should go to His throne and talk with Him there. I would lay my case before Him and listen to His reply, and understand what He wants. Would He merely overpower me with His greatness? No, He would listen with sympathy. Fair and honest men could reason with Him, and be acquitted by my Judge.”
“But I search in vain. I seek Him here, and I seek Him there, and cannot find Him…. He hides Himself. But He knows every detail of what is happening to me; and when He has examined me, He will pronounce me completely innocent…as pure as solid gold!” (Job 23)
Narrator
“So today, if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart.” (Hebrews 4)
Lover:
“Look! I have been standing at the door and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears Me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with Me.” (Revelation 3.20)
“Come; let’s talk this over! No matter how deep the stains, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow.” (Isaiah 1.18)
“I am the door!” (Matthew 10.9)
Seeker
“It was only a little while afterwards that I found him and would not let him go….” (Song of Solomon 3.4)
Narrator:
“To sum up the whole matter; here is my final conclusion: fear God and obey His commandments, for this is every person’s duty. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or bad.” (Ecclesiastes12.14)
How is your secret life?
Addendum
“The severest battles of a man’s life are fought out in secret and in his own individual soul. Temptation to evil in its varied forms comes far more subtly to a man when he is alone than when he is with others. I begin my fight inside; in the secret recesses of my inner life, in the hall of the imagination, in the chamber of the affections, there the fight must first be fought. The fiercest battles of an individual life, the longest, the most strenuous, are the battles fought in absolute loneliness.”
(G. Campbell Morgan, The Westminster Pulpit, vol.2, Baker)