“The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But the things that are made known belong to us and to our children forever, so we may obey all the words of this Law." Deuteronomy 29:29
"Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered." Proverbs 11:13
But also in bad ways...
“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10: 26-28
You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. Psalm 90:8
Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?" You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!... Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing?" Isaiah 29:15-16
I've found myself on both sides of secrecy lately. I've felt the palpable tugging of God to come into the secret place with Him...to do some repenting and dealing and hard work with His Spirit. I've also felt the weight of secrecy in areas of my soul where it should not be...and I believe the Enemy thrives there.
What is secrecy?
: the condition of being hidden or concealed
: the habit or practice of keeping secrets or maintaining privacy or concealment
Some characteristics of unhealthy secrecy:
Darkness: when carrying unhealthy secrecy in our lives, there is palatable darkness. By definition darkness is: the partial or total absence of light. When we are holding unhealthy secrecy, there is surely darkness in that area. We can't see clearly, we fumble and stumble around and we walk in uncertainty. If we stay here too long, we eventually give up looking for the light switch and instead just wait for our eyes to become accustomed to the dark. This isn't the healthy life in the secret place that God calls us to. It's a place for the Enemy to lurk undetected and hidden under the cover of darkness.
Paranoia: I realize about myself that when I'm carrying unhealthy secrecy, I begin to experience paranoia. Paranoia is: a mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically elaborated into an organized system. Sound familiar? "Why are people against me?" "Everyone is talking about me!" "God must have HUGE plans for me because I'm being relentlessly persecuted...I mean, I'm practically the apostle Paul!" Yeah, paranoia is a sure sign that the secrecy we're carrying is eroding our true identity as secure, approved and beloved children of the King. Instead, we either play the victim or over-estimate our importance. The Enemy will take either opportunity to drag us off course and get us lost in the woods of paranoia.
Posing: We're all familiar with posers. You know, that person that you can quickly say: "oh man, what a poser!" about? Well I'm pretty convinced that we as believers have become MASTERS of posing. Ours is just way more subtle. Posing is: to assume a particular attitude or position in order to be photographed, painted, or drawn. Does that hit close to home for anybody? I'm so aware that an unhealthy amount of secrecy has creeped in when I feel the pressure to pose. On social media, at church, at work, for the other moms at school, for my kids, my friends, even my husband. I begin to have a literal tug-of-war between what I think people need to see from me and what I'm really feeling. I'm carrying secrecy and the inauthentic result is a need to pose...after all, I gotta look good, right? And the Enemy LOVES to get me all caught up in how I appear to the world around me. After all, if I'm worried about them, I certainly won't have room to be worried about how I appear to Jesus.
Secrecy manifests itself in many forms:
- sins we are aware of but have not taken the time before God to deal with.
- knowledge we become aware of and feel responsible to keep to ourselves.
- knowledge others give us and then make us responsible to keep to ourselves.
- circumstances or situations that occur and bring with them shame or embarrassment.
- long past wounds or wrongs that pop up from the past to taunt us.
Unhealthy secrecy creeps into our lives when someone puts something on us that isn't ours to carry. Terrible or painful situations that happen to us aren't meant to be kept in secret and darkness. They're burdens intended to be shared with trusted counsel and Godly friends or mentors that can help us navigate all that confusing darkness and be on the road to freedom.
Sins that we're delaying repentance from will only serve to heighten the posing that is characteristic of a person pretending to be someone they're not. Bringing our sins into the open before God and asking Him to cleanse and purify us sheds LIGHT in an otherwise dark, dank place. All darkness flees in the presence of light. Bring it into the open before Him!
Knowledge is a funny thing. In fact, some would say knowledge is power. The funny thing about knowledge is that once you know something, you can't un-know it. Be very careful about what you know. Be very protective of what people give you to know. Once you know it, it's very hard not to carry it. Once you're carrying it, it's very hard not to feel responsible for it. Once you feel responsible for it, it's very hard not to act on it. Suddenly, something that we once didn't know is something we feel the need to act on. Sometimes this is good...other times, it's very, very bad.
Recently, I'm painfully aware that I have to beware of saying "I probably shouldn't say this, but..." and I'm equally leery of "please don't tell anyone this..." These are both the first sign that I should take a beat before anything else comes out of my mouth. You and I should have a handful of safe, godly friends in similar as well as differing seasons of life who are peers and also older and wiser. These are the appropriate places for the wise counsel mentioned earlier. Beyond that, it's a dicey game to start playing "no one really knows this but..." and the Enemy has a field day in all the secrecy. Knowledge can be power, but in all the wrong ways...
Past wounds and wrongs that continue to crop up AFTER they've been dealt with before God are one of the Enemy's primary ways to accuse us. It's a ploy to have us retreat into secrecy and guilt by giving back ground that was already taken in victory. We have to stand in truth and reclaim the ground that's already been covered by the blood of Jesus. Satan is at work in the dark, the shame and the secrecy. Those are unfruitful works of darkness and they are no match for the light and freedom found in Christ. There is now therefore NO condemnation, so don't give the Enemy any dark places to move in and get comfortable.
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1
There is no freedom in unhealthy secrecy...let's pray and ask God to expose areas where we may be carrying what isn't ours to carry, revisiting what's already been taken or shouldering burdens intended to be shared with another sibling in Christ. Satan is in the unhealthy secrecy.
Jesus, however, is in the secret places of our souls and invites us to let Him have free reign there. Retreating into the secret place with Christ is a very safe and secure place indeed.
Let's choose the secret place of Christ over the unhealthy secrecy the Enemy would have us bound up in. There's much freedom to be found there.
"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1
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