Proverbs 15:3 Commentary and Bible Study

The believer lives acceptably if he remains constantly aware that the eyes of the Lord are upon him, for ‘all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.’ Of course the inability of man to hide from the Lord is not limited to hiding his physical presence, ‘for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart’; it is something much more intimate that we are unable to hide from the Lord. Those things which we can successfully keep secret from each other are all visible to the Lord who made the heart as well as the body. But if our hearts are seen by him, then we have no secrets, and this is indeed the case and is why the secrets of all hearts will be revealed on the Day of Judgment, for then it will be God’s perspective that will prevail and heaven will be a realm where all things are opened forever. But since this is going to happen, we should live as if it had already happened, for what will be revealed in that day is not just what takes place from then onwards, but all that every person has ever done from the beginning of creation. The fact that our secrets are hidden at the present time from our fellow men and women is not something to be taken advantage of because it is only temporary. God already sees what he will at that time cause all others to see and therefore the covering over our secrets is only in place during this life. Here on earth it is right that we should have secrets from one another for the nature of society in this world is such that there are intimacies and relationships which require us to shut out some and give exclusive access to others. However the world is passing away and not only the sins of the world but even the good things which belong to this life are only temporary. The believer lives with this knowledge, the knowledge that he belongs to eternity and many aspects of his present life will not last but are for a time only. Marriage is one example, for marriage is only for a time, being a picture of the far more enduring reality of the relationship between Christ and the church. For this reason, even the distinction between male and female will not be present in eternity.Those good deeds done in secret, which the righteous have done in humility and spoken in humility away from the eyes and ears of men and solely before the gaze of their all-seeing God, will be published far and wide. Similarly the words of the wicked will be known, ‘For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops’ (Luke 12:2-3). If we know this will take place in the future, we cannot live as if our secrets will be preserved for ever. This is a cause of great encouragement to the righteous who understand that the Lord forgets none of their labours and overlooks none of their suffering, and it is a great source of consternation to the wicked who know their time is limited and the pleasure they snatch from time can never make up to the recompense they will suffer in eternity.