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?” Isaiah 29:15
One day I was preparing to head to a meeting. Looking at the clock I realized that I took more time lying in the bed than I should have. Glancing in my closet a noticed a clean suit. I took a quick shower and proceeded to get dressed. That’s when I realized there was problem. I needed a dress shirt and the ones hanging in my closet were wrinkled. Time was now at a premium and I did what I normally do in moments like these. I ironed the collar of my shirt, the cuffs and the part that the tie wouldn’t cover. The rest of the shirt remained severely wrinkled. I would simply cover the shirt, and the wrinkles, with my suit jacket. On the outside things looked fine, but underneath things were a mess.
Leaving my apartment that day I had a plan. I vowed that no matter how hot or uncomfortable I might get I would never take off my jacket. As long as I kept the wrinkles covered no one would ever know they were there. I could carry on my business as usual while hiding a severe fashion faux pas.
We love to cover up the things that we don’t want people to see. Internet browsers allow us to search without others knowing what we’re looking for. We can delete text messages and call lists. We can drive to meet up with people at places no one else knows about. Perfume and cologne hide our scent. Withdrawing cash rather than using our debit cards leaves our purchases untraced. Mints mask our breath. We are very good at covering up.
We can pull one over on everyone around us but God sees through to the wrinkles. God will sometime choose to expose us for the sake of saving us. Ask Moses or David or Peter. God asks us to take our jackets off. He says I know you’re wrinkled and I want to iron you out but you have to stop hiding. As pretty as our coverings they might be, God is not fooled. Besides the robe that He wants to cover us with looks better than anything we could come up with.
