What’s In Your Closet

Sometimes what we do on the "outside" of our home (or car) is very different from what we do on the "inside" our home (or secret place). How about you? Do you behave differently when someone is watching verses when you are alone?

Proverbs 9:17 “Stolen water is refreshing; food eaten in secret tastes the best!” 

Wow! Proverbs 9 tells us the difference between wisdom and foolishness. This verse struck me for SO many areas of our society! Sex, food, money, work, friends… then I had a flashback of my “fat days” and how I did SO many things in “secret” that at the moment seemed really good and tasty, but in the end, hit me like a ton of bricks and were actually quite destructive.

Yes, I was a ‘closet eater’. I ate most of my unhealthy choices when no one was around or looking. However the very next verse, 18, hit home: “But little do they know that the dead are there. Her guests are in the depths of the grave.” That old saying about a skeleton in the closet… well, that was me for sure! Even though I was walking around, full of life, fat and sassy – on the inside, I was like the walking dead. Not only was I hurt, empty, depressed, defeated but I also had that “bully” nagging on me every day. It was a constant torture chamber. THEN, for my clothes to get tight and constrict the things I wanted to do and be doing – well, that was just the shackles added on top of the prison I was already in.

I think the thing that gets me about these verses is: they are so us, when we are apart from, separated from, or not even in a relationship with Jesus. When we listen to Him and His voice, we gain wisdom. When we go about floundering like a fish out of water, that is when we are listening to our own desires and the direction of the enemy. Sure – stolen and secret pleasures are nice IN THE MOMENT, but then when the darkness fades and light shines – it is not so pleasant.

But guess what?!?! The good news is that Jesus is STILL right there with us! He is standing right there waiting for us to reach out to Him and ask for help. To place our hand in His and trust that He will lead us in the right direction. It is easy? NO! Might there be consequences for our choices? YES! Anything He will guide and lead us through, is a place that He is willing to go WITH us, through it each and every step! Not like the enemy who flees from us the moment the light of day comes. The enemy abandons us and leaves us drowning all on our own. Striped, beaten, starving… empty. The joy, peace, love, kindness and true unconditional acceptance from Jesus – even at our lowest point – is better than the ‘best time in secret’.

When I was doing so many destructive behaviors in secret, I was only fooling myself. Yes, I may have been crying out, hoping that someone would “come to the rescue”, but no people really did. Guess who did?!?! Jesus! Yup, He showed up each and every time, gently (and sometimes with a swift kick in the hiney) and lovingly reassuring me that His ways might be hard, but they are WAY better!

My weight journey needed surgical intervention – and I am SO thankful for the opportunity to be able to have it done. However, now – it is up to me and my choices to follow wisdom and not folly. To make wise choices and listen to the voice of wisdom. My “choices” bring me life or they bring me death. Peace or despair. No, it is not always easy – but I will tell you this – it is getting easier and easier as time goes by.

Our amazingly loving and gracious heavenly Father WANTS us to live life to the fullest! Have SO much fun, joy, peace and love – He provides it on a daily basis through a relationship with Jesus. Now THAT is a much easier and wiser way to spend our day – don’t you think?!

Today, if you are hiding and doing things in secret – I am praying that you get brave and reach our your hand to Him who CAN help you come out of the darkness and into the amazing loving light! I pray that you seek out some time to be with Him, alone, to read His word and just speak to Him and then listen to what He has to say to you. He will NOT let you down – but the enemy – oh yeah! He will let you down over and over again with lies and trickery. I’m praying for you my friend. Today – be wise, be safe, be well and allow yourself to be blessed BIG time!