Proverbs 28:13
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

It is a somewhat childish attitude that thinks we can hide our sins from God and get away with something.  Like a muddy kid refusing to admit he’d been outside in the dirt, our sin is obvious to God because we stand bare before Him.  It is pride that tells us we can fool Him somehow into not seeing our sin by refusing to acknowledge it ourselves or bring it before him.  But we’re only hurting ourselves when we hold these kinds of attitudes.  We don’t gain anything at all by stubbornly refusing to go before the Lord and tell Him about what we’ve done.

Because the reward at the end of confession is a sweet one, and there is mercy waiting for us every time.  His grace washes over us and cleanses us from the dirt we’ve gotten into and makes us whole again.  The guilt is gone and the burden of that.  The shame disappears when we hear those sweet words, “I forgive you.”  And when those barriers are removed, we can get closer to the Lord.  We realize anew how much He loves and cares for us, how much He’s done for us, and how complete our salvation is in Him.

God wants us to have the same attitude about sin that He does.  It is something that doesn’t belong.  And He just wants us to recognize that.  So when we see it in our lives, popping up in whatever form it may be, may we be quick to forsake it, hating its contaminating presence in our lives.  And the quicker we can do this, the better.  We can spare ourselves unnecessary hurt or painful consequences or the chastening hand of the Lord upon us.

May we live sweetly surrendered to God, not running and hiding and trying to get away with things, but acknowledging our faults and experiencing His grace and mercy upon our lives.  There is much more freedom in that than remaining under the bondage of sin.  It may feel good for a time.  We may not see the bad in it right away.  But eventually it catches up to us.  Let’s see the wisdom in confessing and then forsaking our sins and experience the joy that kind of life can bring.