Proverbs 28:13 Commentary and Bible Study

The natural instinct of fallen human beings who are troubled by their consciences is to hide their sin. They do this without much thought, without stopping to consider how effective it is, without asking who they are trying to hide from and whether they can succeed. Of course, if you could pin a man down, he would admit that his main aim is to hide his sins from other human beings, and that he does not really think about whether God sees him. The trouble is that conscience is not awakened only by what men think about our behaviour, but it receives its force from what God thinks about us. But what can we do to hide from the one who sees all, the one before whom all things are naked and open, so that our most secret thoughts are known to him? Men and women play games with their consciences, try to make deals with them, threaten them, shout them down, but the conscience retains its independent voice and resists pressure to corrupt it. It may go quiet; it may speak less frequently; it may to some degree be reprogrammed, but at some point it will burst into life again, and like Samson throw off its assailants. To our consternation conscience will ultimately prove itself to be on the Lord’s side and betray its host like a foreign agent, a spy who is resident in an enemy city. The act of hiding will itself be brought out into the open to our double shame.Covering transgressions is set against confessing and forsaking them, and prospering or thriving is set against being shown mercy. In contrast to the unbeliever, the believer wants to honestly face up to his sins now and not wait till he is forced to do so on the last day. He has acknowledged the seriousness of sin and knows that it is fatal to minimise it. He must accept God’s verdict on his sin, and so, as he approaches the Lord, there is no other subject on the agenda but mercy. If he does not receive mercy then all is lost; it is mercy or nothing. But note: it is not enough to confess sin; it must also be forsaken. Every conversion involves death, death to the old life, a death that is not reversible. That is a death which the convert willingly undertakes and understands the full measure of. In his heart it is a permanent leaving behind of sin and its pleasures. As a result of the sacrifice that Christ has made for sin and the price he has paid in taking our eternal punishment we can be forgiven and reconciled to God. He has promised to show mercy to all who come and, as the comparison implies, unlike the sin-concealer we also prosper or thrive in the only way that matters. The soul thrives, having a new hope, a new eternal future which lifts it above the mundane.