“Holy secrets and sacred spaces of privacy are to be celebrated and sought out.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – November 16, 2024
A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret. Proverbs 11:13, NIV
“Secrets, secrets are no fun unless they’re shared with everyone.” Chances are, you’ve heard this phrase or a slight variation of it more times than you can count. I cannot consciously remember where I heard it first, though it feels like something someone likely chanted on the grade-school playground, perhaps out of frustration when feeling left out. The virtue this rhyme sets forth is that secrets are exclusionary and unkind and, thus, to be avoided at all costs. And while this may be true in some cases, Proverbs 11 reminds us today that, rightly understood, secret-keeping can be a deeply virtuous practice.
Today’s passage is a reminder of the necessity of trusted and private spaces. It speaks to the gift these relationships of trust can be, and the great damage that can be caused when this confidence is broken. And in an age of social media and the platforming of our private lives, this ancient wisdom is something we desperately need to hear.
There is an intimacy of knowledge that is shared only between my wife and me, a relational closeness of which even my children are unaware. However, there is a private life in our home that my wife and I share with our kids that is unknown to anyone else, including their grandparents or even our closest friends who are in our home weekly. There’s overlap, of course, as our life as a family intersects and overlaps with the people we share life with, yet there is a sacred bond of intimacy and trust that is only known between the five of us.
It is a bond that is necessary for my children to process their deepest pains and struggles, knowing whatever they say will be contained within this secret space. And it isn’t just children who need these safe spaces. Wherever you find yourself today, there are people with whom you need to have a secret life. A covered and protected life that allows for a level of vulnerability that brings true healing and change. You need this for yourself, and you need to be that safe space for others.
Understood this way, holy secrets and sacred spaces of privacy are to be celebrated and sought out, for they are truly priceless gifts from the Lord.
Prayer
Father, thank you for relationships of mutual trust and intimacy in which we can truly be known and loved. Amen.
Application
How can you continue to cultivate and protect secret spaces of vulnerability and trust in your life?
Related Reading
Leviticus 19:16; Ephesians 4:29; James 3:5-6
Worship Resource
Josh Garrels: Seek Hi Seek Lo
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