“Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the LORD. They do their works in the dark, and say, ‘Who sees us? Who knows us’” (Isaiah 29.15)?

Those who go to great lengths to hide their plans and deceive are the political movers and shakers in Jerusalem. Why do their works in the dark? It is so they can do what they want to do rather than what God wants them to do. These are people who forget that they are the clay and God is the potter (v. 16). “Woe to the rebellious children! This is the LORD’s declaration. They carry out a plan, but not mine; they make an alliance, but against my will, piling sin on top of sin. Without asking my advice they set out to go down to Egypt in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow” (Isaiah 30.1-2). 

Psalm 10.13 states that the wicked despise God because they’ve deceived themselves into thinking that God will not demand an accounting from them. People say to themselves, “God has forgotten; he hides his face and will never see.” Look at the evidence of such self-deception all around you.

People exalt past sin rather than humble themselves before God for it. They don’t take steps to prevent sin – to be kept from evil and the evil one. They indulge in all kinds of sinful practices because they don’t believe that God sees them or knows them. They are this way because they despise God and His sovereignty over all creation. 

Do we hate God’s holiness? Do we think because He has kept silent that He is altogether like us (Psalm 50.21)? Do we despise His justice? Do we think that God will simply overlook our complacency? Do we say in our heart, “The LORD will not do good, nor will He do evil” (Zephaniah 1.12). That is, do we live as though God will not demand an accounting from us? 

Evaluate yourself to see if you are truly in the faith. Do you despise God’s wisdom by carrying on with life as though you are the captain of your fate? So many people make daily choices and decisions that move them away from God. They even despise the mercy He extends to them when they do so. 

The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived (see 1 Corinthians 6.9). We cannot imagine the suffering of Hell or even the loss of Heaven. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All of us have gone great lengths to hide our plans form the LORD. We do our works in the dark thinking that no one sees or knows. But God does see. He does know. He will require an accounting of our lives. 

If it were not for Christ this would only be bad news for all of us. However, belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is good news for us. If Christ died for my sins, I will never stand before God my Father and answer for them. This doesn’t mean that I hide my sinfulness. It means that my sinfulness is out in the open and dealt with. I live my life knowing that God sees me and knows me. This is the fear of the LORD. It is the awareness that God is near and watching over me. This can be a convicting thought or a comforting one. God has cast all my sins into the depths of the sea. Knowing this does not make me sinless, but it does make me sin less.