He who conceals his sins will not prosper

Proverbs 28:13 (NASB)

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

Isn’t this the truth?  How many times has it happened to you and/or you’ve seen it happen to others that covering up sin never works for long?  Look at all the athletes and politicians in the past few years who have tried to cover up their sins, yet still got caught, had to confess, lost lots of respect from others, and never really prospered as much again. 

This verse is used in probably every book ever written on prayer.  If you have been praying a certain request for a long time and you’ve not received an answer, could it be that there’s a sin or sins in your life that you continue to commit and that you have not confessed AND turned away from that sin?  Conversely, note the result of confession and repentance (deliberately turning away from sin)---you receive the mercy (lovingkindness) of God. 

The mercy of God is the sense of experiencing God’s peace of heart and mind.  When you confess your sins and have a sincere desire not to commit such sins again, you feel better about yourself, don’t you?  Why?  Because you are experiencing God’s mercy, His not doing to you what you deserve, and you feel a peace about this. 

There is great mercy and peace when you admit wrong.  There still may be consequences for such wrong, but your conscience becomes clear and you can more easily face those consequences.  You are at peace with yourself.  Plus, most people are willing to forgive you (another form of mercy) when you confess to them.  This may not be a good illustration, and I am not a supporter, but there seemed to be a national acceptance of President Obama after he admitted one time that he had “screwed up”.  It was refreshing for someone of prominence to admit publicly right away, not after being caught later, that he had made a mistake.  People accepted this confession and perhaps our nation and Obama himself will prosper as a result of his decision not to conceal and freely admit his mistake.

Conversely, I had an experience with someone of high visibility, a leader of others, who had been insulting many of his followers, including me, some intentional, some unintentional, e.g. trying to be funny, but in fact his humor was insulting.  I met with him one-on-one and asked, even begged him, to apologize to those he hurt.  He replied that he would think about it, but never did.  He was unwilling to admit his mistakes to others.  

To admit wrong takes humility.  It takes great courage and humility to admit wrong.  It is not easy to admit wrong, but there are blessings when you admit wrong.  One of the greatest blessings is that you escape from the stronghold that the devil has over you by concealing your sin(s).  Jonathan Edwards had a great quote about this:  “Nothing sets a person so much out of reach of the devil as humility”.