This post was last updated on May 14, 2026

Day 40 (Year 2)

Dealing With Our Sins Before God

“You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.” (Psalm 90:8 NASB)

The first verse of this psalm states that its author was Moses. He says that God brings out the iniquities and hidden sins of those Israelites and places them in the light of His presence. In fact, when sinners think they are sinning in secret, God sees them all clearly. So, people have at least several reactions. One is to avoid God’s work of exposure, to flee from His light, and hope to avoid facing their sins, their problems, and His truth. However, this is actually procrastinating, waiting for the moment they are eventually overwhelmed by those problems. Over time, their ability to solve problems weakens, and they may become slow to react, becoming lazy, or lack motivation for positive living.

Another reaction is to feel angry at God’s work of exposure, thinking that He does not respect humans enough. (But how much do they respect God?) They believe God’s standards are wrong and subsequently reject Him. Behind this actually lies pride, the belief that they are more correct than God. The final type of person, however, humbly surrenders before God, admitting that He examines all things, recognizing His sovereignty with the light of His presence, and knowing all of his or her sins.

The word “secret” in the text is ‘alam in the Hebrew, which refers to “be concealed, or be hidden.” The concealment and light described in the verse depict an obvious contrast: one is the hiding of sinners, the other is the radiance from God. The following verses mention God’s wrath upon sinners, stating that they have only seventy or eighty years of life (Psalm 90:9-10). I believe that His great love for His people is precisely to expose everything we want to hide before His light. For when sinners know they cannot escape God’s light, they will no longer do evil in secret and can turn wholeheartedly to the true God.

When we move toward goodness, it does not mean there is no evil in us at all, but that we are willing to rely on God’s help to resolve all evils and iniquities. Conversely, those who hide their sins are embracing evil and cannot move toward God’s goodness. When believers long to turn from darkness to light, we are willing to pray for God to reveal hidden sins and to know ourselves anew. Thank the Lord Jesus that through His substitutionary atonement on the cross, He will help us to solve the problem of being compelled to sin. But the prerequisite is that we sinners must first confess our sins before Him and seek His light to overcome all evils. This point will be continued tomorrow.

Reflection questions:

1) The scripture mentions that no one can hide any sins before God. How do you feel about this?

2) When your hidden evils are exposed in the radiance before God, how do you feel? How do you desire God to deal with them?