Under pressure, everything within us on high alert, we come face-to-face with our issues. As the pot begins to boil, our insecurities manifest themselves in various areas of our lives. And, very often, our reaction is to hide.
We do all we can to keep the pot from boiling over: We dissipate the smoke, cover the smell, clean it up, pretend it’s not there. We piece together fragments and patch together stories to guard our pride, to maintain a sense of control. As we do, we forfeit a piece of our souls.
Yet, the Bible teaches us there is another way – a way out of the pain, a way out of the hiding. It says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Healing comes from confession, from facing our issues head-on, exposing our pain, relinquishing our pride and trading it for wholeness.
Why do we settle for fragments when we could be whole?
What are you hiding? Is it the weakness you feel, the wrong you have done…? Is it the pain that has been inflicted upon you? What threat or lie has been cast so deeply into your soul, that it has taken root and feeds on darkness? What pain occurred, what wound left untreated?
Who is it? Who has you captive, sweet friend? Who is your perpetrator? Is it shame or guilt? Is it addiction or condemnation? Is pride choking you, trapping truth inside a rock-hard shell? Who is it that threatens to take you out, to remove you from the game?
You hide, sweet soul… Where have you gone? Are you trapped in your most painful moment, stuck within addiction, riddled by the guilt that leaves you hanging by a thread, threatening to take you out? Where are you?
The Bible tells us, “nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light” (Mark 4:22). The truth always comes to light. Is it time? Is it time to expose the dead within you that it might come to life?
The Lord wants to save you. He wants to remove the barrier that separates you, break you free from prison and the chains that bind you. He beckons you to come out from hiding so He might restore you. He calls to you, His beloved:
“I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land” (Jeremiah 29:14).
Release the prisoner. Unhinge the latch that keeps you hiding, that keeps you in shame, that locks you in fear, anxiety and isolation. Come out of hiding. Take a step. Step out of the darkness and into His glorious light.
Step into the light, where maggots die, and light gives way to breath, and breath gives way to life. The Lord is drawing you, calling you, out of darkness… come home. Jesus came to set captives free, to restore them from torment and return them to the arms of their Father.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free” (Isaiah 61:1).
Step out of your death, and step into your life. Freedom has come.
Sarah Guldalian 