Letters to a Samuel Generation: Refuge of Lies
written May 2002
I remember trying to hold a conversation with someone and being constantly frustrated in my attempts to reach her, because the real her was hiding. She was looking out at me through a smiling, stylized mask—while the real person was bleeding and dying inside.
I’ve known people with two faces, or more than two—one righteous, one gentle, one vicious and sarcastic. One face was more pleasant than another, but all buried the real person, choking for air under a heavy cloak of falsehood. We live in a world of fake smiles, fake laughter, fake worship, and fake tears. And it’s no wonder, for the god of this world is a liar, and the father of it.
In the beginning, Adam and Eve sinned against God. Their first instinct was to hide—to take refuge behind a lie, to pretend that everything was all right. Likewise, Cain buried his murdered brother. Get rid of the evidence. Pretend it’s okay. Remember David, committing murder to cover up the truth? Or Moses, burying the Egyptian in the sand?
Hiding behind a lie.
People take shelter behind illusion for plenty of reasons. They do it because they’re afraid of being hurt. They’re afraid of rejection. But most of all, we take cover in lies because we’re afraid to face up to the truth about ourselves: that we are lost, depraved, rebellious sinners in desperate need of our God.
In our culture, we pull the cover of lies tight around us and keep our masks smiling. We murder children to cover up the consequences of our own personal sins. We write sitcoms so that we can laugh at divorce and homosexuality. We sing patriotic songs and write grandiose speeches so we can pretend that the problems of hatred and violence don’t begin much closer to home: right here in the hearts of you and me.
Our lies are poison. They poison our world, our cultures, our homes, and our own souls. They harden us and deafen us, they blind our hearts to God’s truth and hold us back from reaching for Him. Is it any wonder that Satan so quickly taught us to lie?
Thousands of years ago, Isaiah spoke eloquently of the tragedy of those who hide behind a refuge of illusion.
“Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
“Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make haste.
“Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
“And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it…
“For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.”
(Isa. 28:14-18, 20)
As followers of Christ, we know of a better way. Jesus proclaimed that the truth would set us free! The answer to sin is not to pretend that it isn’t there, but to confess it, and repent of it. Repentance leads to forgiveness; and forgiveness, to freedom. Freedom to be, at last, exactly who God made us to be. Freedom to let down our masks. Freedom to come out from the shadows, away from the fig leaves. Freedom to be real, and to walk with a real God.
Why then, are so many Christians still hiding? Instead of letting Christ’s image be formed in us, we are building our own image for all the world to see. The Bible calls us children of light. What are we doing in the darkness?
This Christian walk is a battle. It demands constant vigilance. We fall into lies so easily. And the fight is hard. But it is worth it. The world cannot see Christ in you if you are hiding behind a mask.
Let the mask down. Let the illusion shatter. If you are standing with Christ, nothing can destroy you. It can only make you stronger. It can only set you free.
And that, my friend, is the truth.
