Who Is In Secret
Everything is public in this day and age. Even things that are supposed to be private are released to public viewing. Sometimes through unscrupulous investigation and sometimes through ill-advised sharing of information, intimate details of unwise actions and embarrassing events are made known to the people at large, details that have no business being distributed openly. It is the nature of our connected world and it is only getting worse.
Jesus instructed people to keep some things private. According to the Messiah, there were things that were best kept on the down low, out of public viewing and away from the limelight. Matthew records in his gospel one of these keep private instructions by Jesus. In chapter 6 and verse 6, Matthew tells us that Jesus said, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” The context of this statement is worth noting. Jesus was in the middle of His sermon on the mount and turned His focus from how believers are to treat others to instructions on avoiding hypocrisy. According to Jesus the hypocrites would give to the poor in such a manner that everybody knew they were giving to the poor. The hypocrites would announce their prayers in the synagogues or on street corners so that all might hear them. Verse 16 of this same chapter indicates that even the fasting of hypocrites was for public consumption.
All of this publicity of their actions was intended to reward the hypocrites, and Jesus left no doubt that their reward was received - here on earth. But the Lord’s desire for His children are everlasting rewards given by a “Father who is in secret.” What an interesting phraseology describing God. Our “Father”, our beloved Provider, the One who loves us with a fatherly, caring love, as a parent for His child, this is to whom we are to pray. Our “Father who is in secret” - our loving Father who exists in the area of the secret. Our God is aware of all things, public and secret, at all times. This can be a very scary truth to understand. After all, in most instances when we consider God’s knowledge of secret things we think of things that we do not want known. Things that we frankly have no interest in making known to our Father who is in secret.
But praise be to the Almighty, His existence in secret is not to our detriment, but rather, our Father who is in secret perceives what is in secret for the benefit of His children. Remember, Jesus tells us to pray to our “Father”, our loving and caring Father. He is not viewing in secret to punish. He is in secret to reward - to reward that which we keep secret out of honor to Him. Jesus tells believers to pray in secret so that our “Father who is in secret” may “reward” us. When we, God’s children, choose to keep in secret that which could publicly bring us worldly accolades, when we choose to follow God’s instructions and bring glory to Him rather than accept the praise of our fellow humans, God does not miss it. He sees it because He is there in the secret to reward us with an everlasting reward!