“For the look on their faces bears witness against them. They proclaim their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to them for they have brought evil on themselves.”
– Isaiah 3:9
This is such an interesting verse because there’s a temptation, I think, in all of our lives to sin and then try to hide it, try to cover it up because we’re ashamed of it. We’ve realized we’ve sinned. We don’t want anybody to know. We don’t want God to know although he is the omniscient God of the universe. It is futile to try hide sin from God. Ultimately, our sin will be brought into the open.
We need to be careful that we’re not openly flaunting or taking pride in sin.
Isaiah 3:9 Challenges Us Not to Boast in Sin
There’s a futility in trying to hide sin, but this verse is actually talking about the opposite. It’s talking about those who sin and don’t try to hide it. Instead, it’s talking about those who sin and flaunt it. They do not hide it, Isaiah 3:9 says. They proclaim their sin. It’s an open defiance of God and almost a pride in it. I think about when in my country culture we decided we were going to redefine marriage.
We openly said, “God’s definition of marriage and his word, we do not agree. We are proclaiming a different definition of marriage. We’re not hiding anything here. We are openly defying God.” What a dangerous thing to say and not just in this example but other examples in my culture and my country, but even to think this is possible in the church or in our lives.
This Verse Leads Us to Examine Our Hearts
We need to examine our hearts. Yes, we need to always examine. Is there sin I’m trying to hide? We need to confess sin openly before God, before others. At the same time we need to be careful that we’re not openly flaunting sin in some way, openly going against the word of God and almost doing it with pride in us. God, we pray. May that not be so.
God, help us to hate sin. Help us never to try to hide it. Help us to hate it, turn from it, confess it. Forgive us for our foolishness in thinking we could ever hide anything including our sin from you. God, I pray for those who are listening right now, that anyone who’s living in secret, hidden sin in some way, God, that you would bring it out, God, that you would bring it out into the open in a way that confession brings healing and repentance and grace.
Isaiah 3:9 Calls Us to Uncover Sin in Our Life
At the same time, God, we pray that you would uncover anything in our lives, our families or anything in the church where we are sinning and almost openly flaunting it and taking pride in it. God, may it not be so. Open our eyes to even blind spots we might have where we don’t see that we’re doing this. God, help us. Help us.
Cleanse us from our sin. Help us to live and to love righteousness and to proclaim righteousness, to exalt righteousness in our lives, our families, in the church and in the culture around us. In Jesus’ name we pray these things. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
