Tansparency

I’ve noticed, as i ride along through the winter woods, just how easy it is to see everything.  Things are hidden by all the green growth in Springtime and Summer.  Autumn yields a splendor all its own.  But Winter exposes all the imperfections that were hidden all year long.   People dump things in our forests sometimes, like old tires or debris.  It’s easy for those things to be overlooked when Summer growth hides them.  But in the Winter, things are stripped down to the bark, to the bare bones.  I think I am in a Winter in my own life.  God is exposing those hidden things He wants to deal with.  He’s let them be revealed so He can touch those places and heal them.  He wants to clean up the mess inside of me, so that in the Spring, new life will not be covering old things, dead things, discarded things.  He wants to truly make all things new.  We need this time of Transparency, this time of exposure.  Adam and Eve tried to sew fig leaves together to hide their nakedness, but what they really wanted to hide, were  the secret places of the heart.  They had sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, and they didn’t want God to know it.  Hebrews 4 teaches a very important lesson on exposure:

“For the Word of God is living and active.  It is sharper than any two-edged sword

cutting between soul and spirit, joint and marrow  ,It exposes the thoughts and desires of the heart

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.  Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes

and He is the one to whom we are accountable. (Hebrews 4:12-13)

But here comes the really important part.  Adam and Eve fled from God’s presence and tried to cover up their sin and disobedience.

but in verses 14-16 of Hebrews 4, we are shown just how much we need to ignore our natural inclination to run from God when exposed, and instead to come boldly to Him.

“So then, since we have a great High priest who has entered Heaven,  Jesus,  the Son of God,

let us hold firmly to what we believe.  This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses,

for He faced all the same testings we do, yet He did not sin.

So let us come boldly to the throne of our Gracious God.

There we will find His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” 

Hebrews 4:14-16

So when God brings us into a Winter Season, where a lot of hidden things are exposed, let us resist the urge to run and hide, as Adam and Eve did.   Let us instead, run to our Great High Priest, Jesus, and He will show us mercy and grace,  just when we feel we need it most.