FridayReflection

  29^th September 2023

'DARRELL B. HARRISON shares'

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"The Blessings of Being Transparent With an Omniscient God"

How transparent are you with God?

Our postmodern world, we think to ourselves, who needs God when there's nothing wrong with me to begin with?

Adam and Eve actually believed they could conceal themselves from an all-knowing, ever-present God.

In hindsight one might ask, what on earth were Adam and Eve thinking?
What possible advantage could they have thought they would have over the God who created the trees among which they were attempting to hide?

Had it not occurred to them that the One who placed them in the Garden in the first place was thoroughly familiar with every blade of grass growing within it, and that the very idea of hiding from Him was utterly futile in its conception?

Don't answer too quickly.

As much as the questions may highlight the fallen character of Adam and Eve, do they not also shine an unwanted light on our own nature as well?

Indeed they do.
It is a two-edged sword. Which is why being completely open and honest with God is so necessary.

Our heart is so inherently deceitful, it is incessant in its efforts to convince us that hiding from God is not only possible but feasible.

We have a proneness to want to share with others what we consider to be the more appealing aspects about ourselves.
We will not hesitate to post a selfie (or five) so that those who "follow" or "friend" us on social media are aware of how beautiful, talented, and successful we are (or want to appear to be).

We are less inclined, however, to parade in front of those same followers and friends who we know our true selves to be - on the inside - in our heart

Why is that?
Because, like our first parents, we dare not let anyone else know about us what we know about ourselves.

What is interesting, if not ironic, about Adam and Eve wanting to hide themselves from God is they were motivated by a fear that God would actually keep His promise to them
(for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.").

Think about it for a moment.

Don't answer too quickly.

Could it be that it is only selected promises that we want God to bring to fruition in our lives, ones that deal with His mercy not His discipline, that touch on His faithfulness and not on our inconstancy.

What we often fail to realise is that even when we sin, the last thing we need is to be concealed from God's sight.

It is an irrational, unbiblical response that is rooted in fear; the same fear that tricked Adam and Eve into believing they could hide themselves from Him.

I doubt there exists a more nonsensical proposition than the idea that anything could possibly be hidden from an omniscient God.
But, you see, that's how the heart works.

It possesses such finesse as to so distort the truth of God, that we view transparency with Him as being punitive as opposed to beneficial.

The God of the Bible is personal, approachable, and knowable.
Knowing this, our sin should prompt us to run to God, not from Him (as did Adam and Eve).

To try and hide from God is the ultimate exercise in futility.
It is the spiritual equivalent of running on a treadmill, only instead of losing the weight of our sinfulness we retain it - all of it - regardless how much self-effort we put into it

God knows us infinitely better than we could ever know ourselves;
and only complete transparency with an omniscient God will bring us the true and lasting joy, happiness,
and freedom that we all desperately desire and seek.

Un-edited version, and Bible references avaiable, on request

Darrell B. Harrison
Lead Host Just Thinking Podcast
Darrell is is a native of Atlanta, Georgia but currently resides in Valencia, California where he serves as Dean of Social Media at Grace To You, the Bible-teaching ministry of Dr. John MacArthur.
Darrell studied at the Liberty University, where he majored in Psychology with a concentration in Christian Counselling.
He was the first black man to be ordained as a Deacon in the 200-year history of First Baptist Church of Covington (Georgia) where he attended from 2009 to 2015.