"Knowledge hurts sometimes!" My granddaughter, Paige, exclaimed the one day.

Her outburst rang a bell with me. Facts discovered about sin in my life or someone else's can easily cause me to wince, step away, or weep. It seems the truth causes pain before it sets us free. Certainly not all truth reveals sin. Sometimes it is a discovery of beauty, grace, or love. It is the knowing of evil that hurts.

Adam and Eve were the first to know pain. The knowledge they acquired from disobedience became a life of pain, not only for them but for us as well. The scriptures tell us plainly that even God experiences pain from knowing our sin. He became a man so He could take our sin upon himself. He suffered with the knowledge of becoming sin for us.(2 Corinthians 5:21)

God also suffers in knowing our sin-filled lives. He is grieved because He knows how much sin hurts us. Knowledge hurts God sometimes, just as it does us. We have a Savior that truly understands.

Savior Lord, You know all and yet you remain good. You are the only One we can go to with the pain of our knowing. Forgive us our sins, Good Father! Thank You for knowing all and revealing truth.

Buried

What do you have buried in your past? What do you strive to bury each day?

I know that each person has secrets. We all have things in our past that we do not want others to know. We want them buried and stay buried! I have secrets that only a few people know. I am not proud of the choices I made in the past, nor am I ready to volunteer their stories! I intentionally hide them.

I also have things I strive to bury each day; feelings, fears, shortcomings. I try to bury them under lies or stuff them down with addictive behaviors. I find myself in a battle to face them and deal with them properly. I know it is not good to bury feelings and insecurities under bad habits, but some days it just seems so much easier than to look them in the eye and bring them under the Lordship of Christ. Unfortunately, I never win when I bury them in a secret place.

There is a victory waiting when I agree with Jesus about my buried past and my daily grave digging. He reminds me that His burial was the burial of all my sin! He reminds me that He gives me His life and friendship even when everything around me seems to swallow me.

Through him my past is buried. It is through Him that my daily funerals can become doorways into a life lived for him! I no longer need to fear the digging up of my past, because, though it was buried, I am now changed and made new! I no longer need to live to hide my true self. I am free to cast off the grave digger clothes and put on His powerful armor that allows me to be transparent and real to myself. I am safe from those demons I feared to face.

Lord Jesus, You are my Savior and Lord. You are my protector and my deliverer. I am sometimes a frightened child, not knowing where to turn. I want to hide from the world, from You! But You see me! You see and still love. You see and still reveal Yourself to me! Thank You for taking my sin with You into the grave. Thank You.