Pearls of Great Value

Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. King David (Ps.119:11)

Rahab was hiding Gods people, spies of Israel. At the same time Aachan was hiding robes from Jericho in his tent. Both were hiding something in secret in their home. Aachan had blatantly taken and hidden riches from Jericho after being instructed not to take one thing from the city. Meanwhile, Rahab was going against the King of Jericho and hid the Israelite spies on her roof.  Ironically, both were being disobedient, but one was disobeying the commands of God while the other was disobeying man in order to please God. Rahab was delivered. Aachan was destroyed. It brings us to this question: what are you hiding in secret? What have you kept hidden in your heart?

The secret place. We have heard so much about the secret place, but often aren’t aware that there are two kinds of secret places. One, is when we are in the quiet still place talking to the Lord and listening to His instructions. It’s when we are spending our free time being intimate with God, where He has our full attention. He has our heart and is our desire. The second kind of secret place is where we use our quiet/alone time to pursue fleshly desires.

If we are using the secret place for entertainment instead of enlightenment and equipping, than the secret place has become a prison. It’s no longer something that frees you but binds you. If the secret place isn’t nourishment for your heart and your soul, it quickly becomes a place where you indulge in selfish fullfillment of the flesh. If the secret place isn’t drawing you closer to God, it’s pulling you into darkness. The truth is, everyone is hiding something. It’s either private sin or it’s the hidden word of God in our hearts. Search your heart. Whom are you hosting? What are you hiding?

“But you, when you pray, enter your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Matthew‬ ‭6:6‬ ‭MEV‬‬

God is looking at what we do in the secret place and will reward us openly if we diligently seek Him. Fill your private life so full of God that your public life has all the evidence of the joy of having been in His presence.

Develop in the secret place, the habit of spending time with God. One of the first rewards is motivation. It’s amazing how it works. He motivates us in our health, in our family time, in our worship, in our life goals. It kills laziness. For most people, life gets better the moment they treasure the secret place. God gives you wisdom and grace, supplying your every need to develop and accomplish and fulfill the call of God on your life.

On the other hand if your using the secret place to indulge in sin, it quickly backfires on you. You start being lazy and complacent, not going to church, pulled into bad habits, or enticed to being part of bad friends. It kills motivation and saps the joy of life. It leads you to mindless distractions. It leads you to miserable. We aren’t designed for this!

Build good habits! Develop the secret place for communion with God and foster this time with Him as precious. Pray for an internal desire, a fire, a hunger for God and His word. Pray also for a vigilant heart that doesn’t use the secret place as a means to an end. If you’re seeing the secret place as a place where you go to get something.. it’s misguided. Don’t use God. The secret place is meant for relationship, to fall in love with God. Love God for God!  Just as you wouldn’t want someone to love you for the things you own, God doesn’t want you to love Him just because of what He can give you. Be more attached to God than to the gifts that He gives. Let the gifts of God lead you toward God, not away from God. Make God your goal. Not the gifts or the things He supplies. We need to pray for spiritual maturity in this area, for it’s easy to get distracted.

Sometimes it’s not sin that keeps us from God, it’s our busy lifestyle. How often does God invite us into His presence and we feel the call, but ignore it because we are so busy? Yes, it might be busy doing work for God, but nothing should ever replace Him! Even when you don’t feel the pull, the motivation to be in the secret place...do it anyway. You don’t have to feel it! Do it because you love the Lord. Do it because you recognize that relationships need intimacy. Worship Him. Praise Him. Honor the Lord with your time, with a single focused devotion. Prioritize Him. As you pour your time into Him, He will pour of Himself into you and out of you will flow streams of living water. Streams of life flowing from you to everyone who crosses paths with you. Think of how refreshing, nourishing and enjoyable fresh water is! You can be that.

He sets the table before you in the presence of all the chaos and all the confusion. In the very presence of your enemies, He sets the table. He knows you are busy. He knows the works of your hands. He knows the desires of your heart. If you are working for Him, He has placed those desires within you. Yet no matter how busy you are, remember He waits at the table, he waits for you to join Him. To sup with Him. Enjoy being in His presence for He delights spending time with you! I’ve often wondered on this. It’s amazing. He prepares a table before me. It’s full of everything that I need to accomplish the work that he has set up for me. So He prepares the table, this lavish meal, to nourish and strengthen me. Than He invites me. Often, I’m busy so I don’t heed the call. So He invites me again. And again. If I listen and come, I discover in awe that it’s exactly what I needed. If I ignore the invitation, I have just denied His provision. The fact that God prepares for us in the midst of our enemies, tells us how completely unaffected He is by them. Daughter of God, have a high regard for His invitations, for its an invite into His heart. Son of God, treasure the secret place! Child of God, hide His word in your heart, seek His face and all the things you need will be added unto you. He is El Shaddai, God Almighty and the all-sufficient One. He is Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:8