Indecent Exposure
When I was younger I would, like any good older sibling, mercilessly give my two younger sisters a hard time. Really it was only T, youngest sister that would get the brunt of my teasing because the S, the middle sister, learned quickly to team up with whatever side was winning at the given moment. She would pick on my sister with me but then when it came time to share responsibility in the punishment she would side with T and somehow escape my mother’s correction.
All that being said one of the best tricks we played on T was when she was probably around the age of ten. We were in Idaho visiting my Grandma and Gramps. Every summer we would go for about a month and one of the things my Gramps would do for us would take us to the Filer Idaho public pool. Well we were all in the house getting ready and T was running around the house in just a towel taking forever to get ready per usual. S and I were waiting on her and I’m not sure how the plan was made, but without a word being exchanged and only a few glances we attacked. As T came running around the corner looking for something in one fell swoop we managed to scoot her out the door and take her towel. Now it is not like my Grandma and Gramps’ house was in the city. Their place was way out in the country and the nearest neighbors were a quarter mile away in each direction. T however was not really thinking about it when my Gramps came up saved the day and let her back into the house. He did however play along when we told T that the cute neighbor boy had rode past on his dirt bike to check the canal when she was hanging out outside in her birthday suit. Needless to say she was livid with us and was a shade of red I’ve never quite scene again from embarrassment and anger.
None of us like to be exposed. It all started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose to sin their eyes were open and they were allowed to feel guilt and shame, their nakedness was exposed and their first move was to cover it up. Once T got into the house that day you would never have believed how fast she covered up in clothes. I think she would have worn a turtleneck and parka if she had one and it wasn’t 100 degrees outside.
What do you do when you feel exposed and vulnerable? I hate it. We recently did quarterly reviews as a leadership team and it was hard. Weaknesses and things that I maybe did not want to deal with right at the moment were talked about and brought to the surface. It made me uncomfortable. I have always struggled with being transparent about my weaknesses and struggles because of a need to appear strong, when I do not feel strong I feel exposed. When God has me deal with sin issues I feel the weight of being exposed and naked before him. Sometimes the first reaction is to cover it up and say; “not now God I’ll deal with this later.”
Adam and Eve did this. They knew what they did because they felt exposed, they tried to cover it up by making stuff for themselves and then they hid from God! Can you imagine trying to hide from God? It seems so silly but I bet you you’ve done the same thing in an area of your life. You’ve stuffed something in the back of the closet of your heart thinking God won’t see and he won’t try to get there. Just like God found Adam and Eve he’ll find you too. Not because he wants to smite you, but because he loves you.
Hebrews 4:12-13 says, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 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.”
God and his word will expose us. It will show us our heart, our thoughts and motivations and he will hold us accountable to that. It says that the word of God doesn’t go out void. When we allow God and his word to work in us it produces change. 1 Peter 2:9 says that “we are called out of darkness into his marvelous light.” When we allow God to expose things in our life we are allowing God to bring us into not just his light but his marvelous light! And what is cool that yes everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, but it goes on to tell us in Hebrews 4:16, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”
Praying that as God’s word works in you, you will allow your life to be more fully exposed to his marvelous light and you will experience God’s mercy and grace in a new and greater way!
Live Life Extraordinary,
Alayna
