The secret place
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” — Psalm 91:1
Years ago, I attended a conference for young Christian authors and leaders led by Beth Moore where she discussed the Theology of Secrecy. In Beth Moore’s Bible study, Sacred Secrets, she explains that “the Theology of Secrecy is that secrets manifest”. In other words, secrets, whether good or bad, will come to light.
“For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.” — Mark 4:22
Living in a performative culture, we have been conditioned to curate our lives and ourselves to others in search of approval and belonging. The danger of this performative society is that what is being presented about ourselves is one-dimensional and we are multi-dimensional beings. We are deeply complicated and unique — every person is more than what is presented or performed.
On the other side of a performative life is a secret life. We all can relate to various degrees of image-management. However, living a performative life can cause us to become more concerned with what others think about us, and become desensitized to what is most important: an honest and intimate relationship with Jesus.
God sees us in our secret places. God sees the good, the bad and the ugly, yet He loves us entirely. When our joy is to spend time with Him in our secret places, enjoying intimacy with God alone, we will find great meaning, peace and transformation in our lives.
The “secret place” represents a Holy Communion between us and God; it is intimate and all-knowing. In the “secret place” with God there are no secrets. It’s a freeing and safe place to be understood and heard by a loving God.
God delights not in that which is curated but what is true and real.
“God longs to transform us and make us more like Him, but it happens in the secret place. Change happens when we fix our eyes on Him and let Him shed light into the dark places in our lives.” (LifeWay Women)
The Good News is this: God is El Roi (The God Who Sees) and will shine light into the dark places of our lives. But God also sees our faithfulness to Him, our hope in Him, our kindness to others, our desire to glorify Him, and our love for Him! God will use our faithfulness to Him in the secret places to use us powerfully in the public places!
“She answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, ‘You’re the God who sees me! Yes! He saw me; and then I saw Him.’” — Genesis 16:13 (MSG)
What we present to the world doesn’t have to be merely our curated self. When we prioritize our secret place with God and we receive His transforming, forgiving and unconditional love, God will use our unique and true self to shine God’s light to a desperate world!
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” — Matthew 5:16