When I Am Afraid to Tell the Truth

Devotional

A secret gets heavier the longer you hold it.

Maybe you broke something and put it back so it looked okay. Maybe you said something that wasn't true and now you're scared of what happens if the real story comes out.

You thought the lie would protect you.

It didn't. It just moved in and started charging rent.

The Bible describes this exact feeling, and it's more honest about it than you'd expect.

David wrote: "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long... my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer."

David wasn't sick. He had a secret.

And hiding it didn't make it smaller. It drained him, like a puddle in July.

Here's why hiding is so tiring. You weren't built for it. God made people to live out in the open, not in the shadows.

And that's why the Bible says God hates lying. Not because he's waiting to catch you. Because lies break things between people, and he made the world to run on truth.

So if God hates lying, what happens to somebody who already lied?

Watch what David does next:

"I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity... and you forgave the iniquity of my sin."

He stopped hiding. He told God the true thing.

And God forgave him. Right then. Not after David proved he'd changed. Right then.

That can happen because of Jesus. He's the only person who ever lived who never lied, never hid, never made an excuse for himself. And he took all of our dishonest stuff to the cross with him.

He said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Free. Not more scared. Free.

Now, I'm not going to pretend telling the truth is easy.

You might get in trouble. Somebody might be disappointed in you. Those are real, and I'm not going to act like they aren't.

But here's a promise for exactly that moment:

"God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."

You don't have to dig around inside yourself for courage. It gets handed to you.

And here's something I've found to be true almost every time: whatever trouble comes from telling the truth is lighter than what you're already carrying.

So if you're hiding something right now, you don't have to keep holding it.

Tell God first. He already knows, and he's not going to be shocked.

Then go tell the person.

It might cost you something.

What's on the other side is worth it.