Wk 1 Day 3 - 50 Days of Prayer - 2 Samuel 11:13

Then David invited [Uriah]

to dinner and got him drunk.

2 Samuel 11:13

I heard it said again just recently, “In Washington, the cover-up is always worse than the crime.”

Today in 50 Days of Prayer, David Chotka asks us to consider what would happen if our modern press uncovered a scandal like King David’s affair with Monica Lewinsky (oops … er … I mean … Bathsheba).

I think we can answer that with two quick words: “Scandal sells.”

(And by the way, we’re all voyeurs to one degree or another. We all to one degree or another slow down to see the car wreck that caused the traffic jam, and we all are fascinated by the train wrecks in people’s lives. Yes, scandal sells.)

That’s not what I want to focus on, however, in this story. It’s the cover-up.

A pretty high percentage of us haven’t had an affair, and yet most of us – at one time or another … and for one reason or another … and for one issue or another – have had a divided heart.

The question is … What have you covered up? … Wait … here’s a better question: What are you covering up right now?

If the axiom in Washington is, the cover-up is worse than the crime, how is this true right now for you?

In general, a crime is a dark act. A cover-up buries the crime in further darkness. It heaps darkness upon darkness until the light is snuffed out gradually, but thoroughly and completely.

Sin you’ve heard me say, is like a vampire. It thrives in the darkness. But what happens when you bring a vampire into the light? It loses its power (sometimes even its very life).

Confession – rather than cover-up – brings the darkness into the light.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you out and tell your wife about every little darkness that’s ever lingered in any corner of your heart. But I am suggesting is that you …

• Find one very trusted person to share your struggles with (perhaps a pastor).
• Bring God into it. (Don’t just talk about, share your struggles with someone who will pray with you. You want spiritual healing.)
• Resolve to live from this time forward in the light (I said, you may not need to tell your wife about every past transgression, but what if you shared with her a general weakness, and told her that you wanted to grow closer with her by fighting any future struggles together? No you have an additional accountability partner, and this vulnerability might just bless your marriage and bring you closer.) 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who is writing this

on a hot afternoon porch

and can’t imagine wanting to

cover anything up …

especially with a blanket