You Can’t Hide

Have you ever thought that you could do something without anyone knowing and get away with it?  Maybe it was sneaking a glance at your friend’s paper during a test in school.  Maybe it was refusing to make a receipt for a cash job so the IRS couldn’t find the income.  Maybe it was reading a comic book under your covers as a kid when your mom had already told you to put it up.

I initially wanted to say here that it’s funny how our minds work, but I don’t believe that’s a fair assessment.  It’s downright sad at times.  It’s something that seems to begin at a very early age, and if we aren’t careful can progress as we get older.  Why is it that we want to ignore what is good and right, and instead go after what is wrong and sinful?

Do you notice that often when we are doing something that we don’t feel is the right thing, we tend to do it under a shroud of darkness or cover?  For some reason, it makes us feel more secure like no one will find out.  Why do you think that thieves typically strike at night?  They believe the darkness will help to keep them from being caught.

The flaw of this line of reasoning is exposed by Jesus himself when talking to Nicodemus in John 3:19-21:

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Had Jesus wanted to, he could have referenced here an Old Testament king that learned this very fact the hard way.  Ahab was not exactly what you would call a righteous man.  He was considered one of the most wicked kings to ever reign in Israel.  I King 16:30 tells us that not only did he do evil in the sight of God, but he did more evil than all the other kings who came before him.  His acts even led Elijah to prophesy to Ahab in I Kings 21:19, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.”

You may be thinking that Ahab had no desire to do his evil acts in the shroud of darkness.  Outright worshiping Baal (I Kings 16:31).  Happy over the death of one of his subjects so he can have his vineyard (I Kings 21:15-16).  If he was trying to hide his sin, he wasn’t very good at it.  However, his true colors showed through in I Kings 22 when he went with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to attack the king of Syria.  He sought council from his “prophets”, asking whether or not they should attack.  These men were definitely not there to deliver the message of God.  They simply told the king what he wanted to hear.  However, Micaiah, the one true prophet of God, told Ahab that he would be defeated and killed in the battle.  For this proclamation of truth, Micaiah was abused and thrown in prison.  Ahab and Jehoshaphat decided to attack.

What shows Ahab’s true colors is how he went into battle.  He could have gone in on a massive chariot with purple robes flowing, holding his spear high and his chest out, riding with pride into battle as the king of Israel.  But that’s not what he did.  Knowing that he was going against the will of the one true God, he tried to sneak into battle in disguise.  If he could only go to battle and live to tell about it, he could confidently say that the God of heaven was wrong.  But there was no hiding from God.  A random arrow in battle struck the king between the joints of his armor, and he died from his wound.  Just a Elijah had prophesied, the dogs licked up his blood from his chariot.

Ahab couldn’t hide from God.  There was no getting away from His will and wrath.  Though we may think at times that we can keep a sin quiet and no one will find out, God will always know.  It’s like trying to run from your shadow.  The psalmist said it best in Psalm 90:8:

“You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.”

Don’t try to hide from God.  It’s not that God will find you out.  It’s that He never lost sight of you to start with.  Like Ahab, God will keep in word, and sin will ultimately be wiped from His presence for all eternity.  No armor can protect us from His arrow.  Will we be part of that destruction, or will we join Him in the eternal home He has prepared for us?  The choice is ours.