You may have a secret life that no one knows about. Something you do or someone you become that’s hidden. It’s your little secret. You feel you must keep it hidden because others might judge you or shame you. But, my friend, God knows about that thing. He knows every secret you hide. He knows every shameful thing you keep in the dark. There’s absolutely nothing about you that God isn’t fully aware of.
Does anyone else ever have thoughts that run off into the worst of places that leave you secretly thinking, “What in the world is wrong with me? Why would I think something like that?” You would never speak those thoughts out loud because it makes you sound like a complete twisted psycho. God knows about those thoughts.
He knows the worst things you’ve done, the worst things you’ve thought, the worst things you’ve spoken, and the worst things you’re capable of if given the opportunity. He knows it, and let me tell you something, God still loves you. He isn’t turning away from you. He’s not cancelling his good plans for you. He’s not crossing your name out of the book of life.
No – in his love, he is working within you. Scripture tells us exactly how he works. Today, we’re going to dig deep into his word and understand how God sees our secrets and how he works in them for his purposes.
Remember yesterday we studied Roman 1:20 where we learned God made this world so incredibly beautiful to reveal himself to us so that we would have no excuse for not knowing him. That’s why you can never get a photo to quite capture the beauty of God’s creation. You have to be there to really appreciate it. God draws you in through his creation to know him. A photo can’t do that. It never will.
But it’s not enough to just know who God is – we are created to worship God. We’re created to not only be wowed by the creation, but bow to the Creator. When we fail to worship God, we fall for worshiping other things.
Because you and I were designed to worship, we WILL worship SOMETHING. Something will be our idol. We will look to something.
It’s not because we’re weak or broken, it’s because of our divine design to worship. If you don’t worship the God who made the stars, you will fall for worshiping the stars. If you don’t worship the God who made the Earth, you will fall for worshiping a Mother Earth. If you don’t bow to God, you’ll be bowing to a third eye, bowing to your inner self, or bowing to some sort of master.
Bowing is an act of showing your weakness to something of greater power. What have we become weak to? What holds power over us? What are we trapped by and addicted to? That has become an idol in our lives. We’re bowing to it.
When we don’t worship God, Romans 1:21 tells us “We begin to think up foolish ideas of what God is like and as a result our minds become dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, we instead become utter fools.”
Oh my gosh, isn’t that us today? We have dark and confused minds filled with crazy thoughts! Can you see how maybe that’s your loved one? They’re confused – a source of confusion comes from a failure to worship God, so they begin worshiping something else. Their phone. An influencer. AI. Their boyfriend. Alcohol.
Instead of worshiping the glorious ever-living God, verse 25 says, “We worship and serve the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise!”
When we bow to anything other than God, when any other power begins to control us, God responds in a very specific way, and it may shock you.
Does he strike us with lightening? No. Does he afflict you with a plague of insects and sores? No. Does he speak from Heaven with a loud, booming, condemning voice? No.