Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.
We all have things that we’d like not to be uncovered, or at least I do. I’ve always read this verse as if it suggests that my secrets will be shared for all the world to know, these days on social media. Horrors. But the accompanying reflection from Bernard of Clairvaux shed a new insight for me. God already has uncovered what’s hidden, and knows my secrets.
It’s not for some eventual future time that I need to fret about what’s become known. It was even before the secret occurred. God knows my heart and my intentions, so everything was uncovered probably long before I even imagined the secret.
If God knows all, sees all, and still loves me, why would I worry about my ‘secrets’ becoming known in this world? I’m already and still loved by God, regardless of what I’ve done or contemplated or not done.
Instead of this being a frightening notion, that God knows all my dark bits, I find it oddly comforting. I know that God is the greatest power, has the most influence in my life, and has infinite love and mercy. And despite my dark bits, God loves me unconditionally.
When I’ve heard this passage in the past, I think I worried about dark bits becoming exposed because I’d forgotten about the ultimate secret knower. God already knows, and God’s love means that I shouldn’t care about anyone else finding out about my dark bits. When I fear exposure, it’s because I forget I’m already exposed to the only one that really matters.
Drawing on my time in city governance, there’s a term they use called day-lighting. For years, street maintenance folks put street water runoff in underground stormwater pipes that carried the water to somewhere it could be treated. Now, where space allows, they’re frequently taking out those pipes and putting the water in open air ditches. The pipes, it turns out, created a habitat that was great for mold and ick, but not very good for biodiversity, and the water when it got to its treatment site was skanky. Some of the water that runs through day-lighted ditches is reabsorbed into the ground. So the water that arrives at the treatment site is cleaner and lessened. Our secrets are like that. In an underground culvert, they get skanky and grow in force and volume.
This morning, I’m thinking about how God has already day-lighted my dark bits, so who cares about social media!
No comments:
Post a Comment