You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
Parallel Translations
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You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
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Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
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Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Psalms 90:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 16:17 For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face. Their iniquity isn’t concealed from my eyes.
- Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.
- Psalms 19:12 Who can discern his errors? Forgive me from hidden errors.
- Jeremiah 23:24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him?” says Yahweh. “Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says Yahweh.
- Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
- Psalms 10:11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”
- Psalms 139:1-4 Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
- Jeremiah 9:13-16 Yahweh says, “Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in my ways, but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.” Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”
- 1 John 3:20 because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
- Revelation 20:12 I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
- Job 34:21 “For his eyes are on the ways of a man. He sees all his goings.
- Psalms 50:21 You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.
- Psalms 80:16 It’s burned with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke.
- Proverbs 5:21 For the ways of man are before Yahweh’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
- Ezekiel 8:12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? For they say, ‘Yahweh doesn’t see us. Yahweh has forsaken the land.’ ”
- Luke 12:1-2 Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.
- Romans 2:16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee. To…
8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee. To show that by this complaint he is far from intending to murmur against God, he asserts that the Divine anger, however terrible it had been, was just, inasmuch as the people had provoked it by their iniquities; for those who, when stricken by the Divine hand, are not brought to genuine humiliation, harden themselves more and more. The true way to profit, and also to subdue our pride, is to feel that He is a righteous judge. Accordingly Moses, after having briefly taught that men by nature vanish away like smoke, gathers from thence that it is not to be wondered at if God exanimates and consumes those whom he pursues with his wrath. The manner of the expression by which God is described as showing the tokens of his anger is to be observed — he sets the iniquities of men before his eyes Hence it follows, that whatever intermission of punishment we experience ought in justice to be ascribed to the forbearance of. God, who buries our sins that he may spare us. The word עלומים, alumim, which I have rendered our secret sins, is translated by some, our youth; as if Moses had said that the faults committed in youth are brought to remembrance. But this is too forced, and inconsistent with the scope of the passage; for it would destroy the contrast between secret sins and the light of God’s countenance, by which Moses intimates that men hide themselves in darkness, and wrap themselves in many deceits, so long as God does not shine upon them with the light of his judgment; whereas, when he draws them back from their subterfuges, by which they endeavor to escape from him, and sets before his eyes the sins which they hide by hypocrisy, being subdued by fear and dread, they are brought sincerely to humble themselves before him.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 90:8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee,…
Psa 90:8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret [sins] in the light of thy countenance.
Ver. 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee] As a judge doth the misdeeds of a malefactor, together with the proofs and evidences.
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Our secret sins] Which we either never took notice of or had utterly forgotten (the sins of our youth, some render it, but not so well), those sins which we had hoped to have secreted, such was our hypocrisy.
In the light of thy countenance] This light thou hast made use of for the discovery of our inmost evils, those that lie most up in the heart of the country, as it were, as the murmurings and misbelief of our hearts, &c., these thy pure eyes, more clear and radiant than the sun itself, have plainly discerned. Nature teacheth us that the fiery eye needeth no outward light, but seeth extramittendo, by sending out a ray, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Thou dost not now cover, or blot out, or…
Thou dost not now cover, or blot out, or pass by our sins, as thou hast usually done to thy people; but thou dost diligently search them out, and accurately observe them, as a severe but righteous Judge, and art now calling us to an account for them.
Our secret sins thou dost not only punish us for our notorious and scandalous sins, which thine honour may seem to oblige thee to do, but even for our secret lusts, the murmuring, and unbelief, and apostacy, and idolatry of our hearts; which though hid from the eyes of men, thou hast set before thine eyes, and brought them to light by thy judgments.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thou hast set our sins before thee,.... The cause…
Thou hast set our sins before thee,.... The cause of all trouble, consumption, and death; these are before the Lord, as the evidence, according to which he as a righteous Judge proceeds; this is opposed to the pardon of sin, which is expressed by a casting it behind his back, Isa 38:17,
our secret sins in the light of thy countenance; the Targum and Jarchi interpret it of the sins of youth; the word is in the singular number, and may be rendered, "our secret sin" (f); which has led some to think of original sin, which is hidden from, and not taken notice of by, the greatest part of the world, though it is the source and spring of all sin. It is not unusual for the singular to be put for the plural, and may intend all such sins as are secretly committed, and not known by other men, and such as are unobserved by men themselves; as the evil thoughts of their hearts, the foolish words of their mouths, and many infirmities of life, that are not taken notice of as sins: these are all known to God, and will be brought to light and into judgment by him, and will be set in "the light of his countenance"; which denotes not a gracious forgiveness of them, but his clear and distinct knowledge of them, and what a full evidence they give against men, to their condemnation and death; and intends not only a future, but the present view the Lord has of them, and his dealings with men in life, and at death, according to them.
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(f) "mostrum absconditum", Montanus; "sive occultum", Vatablus, Muis, Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Hast set - Thou dost observe them, as a…
Hast set - Thou dost observe them, as a righteous judge, and art calling us to an account for them. Secret sins - Which though hid from the eyes of men, thou hast brought to light by thy judgments.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee]…
Verse 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee] Every one of our transgressions is set before thee; noted and minuted down in thy awful register!
Our secret sins] Those committed in darkness and privacy are easily discovered by thee, being shown by the splendours of thy face shining upon them. Thus we light a candle, and bring it into a dark place to discover its contents. O, what can be hidden from the all-seeing eye of God? Darkness is no darkness to him; wherever he comes there is a profusion of light-for God is light!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Thou hast set our iniquities before thee - Thou…
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee - Thou hast arrayed them, or brought them forth to view, as a “reason” in thy mind for cutting us down. Death may be regarded as proof that God has brought before his mind the evidence of man’s guilt, and has passed sentence accordingly. The fact of death at all; the fact that anyone of the race dies; the fact that human life has been made so brief, is to be explained on the supposition that God has arrayed before his own mind the reality of human depravity, and has adopted this as an illustration of his sense of the evil of guilt.
Our secret sins - literally, “our secret;” or, that which was concealed or unknown. This may refer to the secret or hidden things of our lives, or to what has been concealed in our own bosoms; and the meaning may be, that God has judged in the case not by external appearances, or by what is seen by the world, but by what “he” has seen in the heart, and that he deals with us according to our real character. The reference is, indeed, to sin, but sin as concealed, hidden, forgotten; the sin of the heart; the sin which we have endeavored to hide from the world; the sin which has passed away from our own recollection.
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In the light of thy countenance - Directly before thee; in full view; so that thou canst see them all. In accordance with these, thou judgest man, and hence, his death.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee—Thou hast…
8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee—Thou hast called up our sins for judgment. “God sets transgressions before him, when, because the measure is full and forgiveness inadmissible, he makes them an object of punishment.”—Delitzsch.
Our secret sins—Sins of the heart, as distinct from overt acts; or, sins committed under cover from human eyes, as Num_5:12-13; or, sins of ignorance. Lev_4:22-35; Psa_19:12.
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In the light of thy countenance—In the luminary of thy face. The word rendered “light,” in the common version, is luminary, that which causes light—a luminous body. The difference between diffused light and a luminous body is given Gen_1:3; Gen_1:14. “Countenance,” in the text, is simply in opposition with luminary. The figure represents God’s “countenance” as a burning sun, into which no human eye can steadily look, and our secret sins are detected by it.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. Instead of ‘hiding His face’ from their sins…
8. Instead of ‘hiding His face’ from their sins He sets them all before Him, and drags them all to light. Elsewhere ‘the light of God’s countenance’ denotes His favour; here a slightly different word, lit. the luminary of Thy face, is used to denote His Presence as a searching light from which nothing can be hid. Our secret [sin] is rather the inward sin of the heart unseen by man but known to God (Psa_44:21, a cognate word), than sin of which the sinner is himself unconscious (Psa_19:12), though this may be included.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) Our secret sins.—Or, to keep the singular of…
(8) Our secret sins.—Or, to keep the singular of the original, our secret (character).
The expression, “light of God’s countenance,” usually means “favour.” But here the word rendered light is not the usual one employed in that expression, but rather means a body of light: “the sun (or eye) of Thy countenance.” Comp.:
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“Then Seeva opened on the accursed one
His eye of anger.”
SOUTHEY: Curse of Kehama,
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Thou hast set our iniquities before thee. Instead of…
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee. Instead of hiding his face from their iniquities, turning away from them and overlooking them, God has placed them steadily "before him," in the full searching and scorching light of his own purity and holiness. And not only has he done this with the sins which they know of, and whereof their consciences are afraid; but he has set their secret sins also in the light of his countenance. (On man"s "secret sins," comp. Psa_19:12, and the comment ad loc. )
"Secret sins.
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Nothing perishes. Nothing is forgotten. Things lost to us are found elsewhere. Things that seem to perish do but pass into new forms. The bursting bubble, the smoke scattered by the wind, the fallen leaf trampled into the mire, vanish from our sight and sense; but the atoms of which that puff of smoke is made are as old as the world, and will endure while the world endures. The image of that bubble, with its lovely colours, most lovely just before it bursts, may remain in our memory, or may exercise the thought of scientific minds, for years. The bud which the perished leaf nourished may grow into a bough that will be green when generations have passed; and the dust into which the dead leaf moulders may feed new life. How much more in the spiritual realm! The acted deed, the spoken word, the conscious thought, may seem to perish the instant it comes to birth. Memory may blot it that moment from her tablet. But it is indestructible. It survives in its results. There is a memory in which nothing ever fades; an eye nothing is quick enough to escape or baffle; a light from which no secret thing is hid. Thou hast set," etc.
I SIN NATURALLY SEEKS CONCEALMENT. The first impulse of the first sinners very foolish, but very natural was to hide themselves from God. (Gen_3:8-10) Some sins those who commit them are anxious to hide from human knowledge. Shame is the natural attendant of consciousness of wrong doing. Only the most hardened and debased "glory in their shame." Other sins, through self-ignorance, self-deceit, carelessness, or dulness of conscience, are a secret from the sinner himself. (Psa_19:12) Some sinse.g. fraud of all kinds are possible only by concealment. Self-interest, not shame merely, prompts secrecy. So subtle is sin, that it often disguises itself as virtue. Covetousness poses as prudence, spite as candour, pride as a delicate sense of honour, obstinate ill temper as honest independence, envy, malice, and all uncharitableness, as zeal for truth and for God. Even the sincerest Christian has cause to pray, "Who can understand," etc.? (Psa_19:12)
II NO SIN IS HIDDEN FROM GOD. An appalling contrast! What darker hiding place conceivable than the secret, silent depth of the heart? But not only is it transparent to God"s view, (Psa_139:1, Psa_139:12) he brings our secrets to light in the full blaze of omniscience. Elsewhere the "light of God"s countenance" means his favour, the sunshine of his loving kindness. But that is a different word in Hebrew; the one used here means not mere sunshine, but the sun. (Gen_1:14-16) God"s knowledge of men"s sins is such as is possible to God alone; he knows each sin in its motives, its exact magnitude, its issues in the sinner himself and towards others, its desert. Yet this tremendous thought has its side of comfort. "He knoweth our frame" (Psa_103:14) our weakness, ignorance, temptations. His justice excludes harshness. He "has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.
III THIS KNOWLEDGE IS NOT TO BE KEPT SECRET. It is to be published to the universe. (Ecc_12:14) The frequent detection and punishment of the most carefully concealed crimes is a faint anticipation of "the day". (Act_17:31 2Co_5:10 Rev_2:23)
IV SIN CANNOT BE HIDDEN; BUT IT CAN BE "COVERED." (Psa_32:1 Psa_85:2) It can be "blotted out", (Isa_43:25 Act_3:19) "washed". (Psa_51:2 1Co_6:11 Rev_7:14) Only he who knows our sins could forgive or atone. (Rom_5:8)
Secret sin.
The word used is a singular one, and may be rendered "our secret" (character). "God needs no other light to discern our sins by but the light of his own race. It pierceth through the darkest places; the brightness thereof enlighteneth all things, discovers all things. So that the sins that are committed in deepest darkness are all one to him as if they were done in the face of the sun. For they are done in his face, that shines more, and from which proceeds more light than from the face of the sun. So that this ought to make us the more fearful to offend; he sees us when we see not him, and the light of his countenance shines about us when we think ourselves hidden in darkness." "These words have a singular force if written by Moses, who saw the splendour of God, and carried away upon his person its manifest tokens.
I SECRET SIN REGARDED AS THAT WHICH WE WOULD GLADLY CONCEAL FROM OTHERS. Secrecy is always suspicious. "He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." Secrecy may be duty; in public spheres it may be wise policy; but when a man, in private life, does not wish any one to know what he is doing, he is generally found to be doing something wrong. The burglar, the coiner, the sensualist, want secrecy. They work in the dark; they go under feigned names; they hide themselves in the great cities; they devise all sorts of excuses to account for their time. If they succeed in deceiving their fellows, surely their ways and works are "naked and open" to God, whose "eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
II SECRET SIN REGARDED AS THAT WHICH WE TRY TO CONCEAL FROM OURSELVES. This point requires more searching treatment.
1. Natural disposition, and errors in education, prevent men from recognizing the sinfulness of their own sins.
2. Conscience may be blunted so that it is no longer keen to witness against sin.
3. Strong will to continue in sin sets men upon persuading themselves that their sin is not sin. Illustrate from the sins of drinking, slandering, envying, etc. A man may deceive himself, but God quickly tears away his "refuges of lies." God knows the man who does not know himself. He puts the secrets into the "light of his countenance.
III SECRET SIN REGARDED AS THAT WHICH WE TRY TO CONCEAL FROM GOD. As did Adam, by hiding among the trees. Men say, "The Lord shall not see;" but no man ever yet succeeded in closing the eye of Heaven. Men"s most desperate effort is to assert and prove that there is no God, and so no observer of their sin. They never really succeed. Infidelity is the hopeless attempt to get rid of a God who sees, and will be sure to judge. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee.…
Ver. 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee. Hence these tears! Sin seen by God must work death; it is only by the covering blood of atonement that life comes to any of us. When God was overthrowing the tribes in the wilderness he had their iniquities before him, and therefore dealt with them in severity. He could not have their iniquities before him and not smite them.
Our secret sins in the fight of thy countenance. There are no secrets before God; he unearths man's hidden things, and exposes them to the light. There can be no more powerful luminary than the face of God, yet, in that strong light, the Lord set the hidden sins of Israel. Sunlight can never be compared with the light of him who made the sun, of whom it is written, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." If by his countenance is here meant his love and favour, it is not possible for the heinousness of sin to be more clearly manifested than when it is seen to involve ingratitude to one so infinitely good and kind. Rebellion in the light of justice is black, but in the light of love it is devilish. How can we grieve so good a God? The children of Israel had been brought out of Egypt with a high hand, fed in the wilderness with a liberal hand, and guided with a tender hand, and their sins were peculiarly atrocious. We, too, having been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, and saved by abounding grace, will be verily guilty if we forsake the Lord. What manner of persons ought we to be? How ought we to pray for cleansing from secret faults?
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It is to us a wellspring of delights to remember that our sins, as believers are now cast behind the Lord's back, and shall never be brought to light again: therefore we live, because, the guilt being removed, the death penalty is removed also.
Ver. 8. God needs no other light to discern our sins by but the light of his own face. It pierceth through the darkest places; the brightness thereof enlightens all things, discovers all things. So that the sins that are committed in deepest darkness are all one to him as if they were done in the face of the sun. For they are done in his face, that shines more, and from which proceeds more light than from the face of the sun. So that this ought to make us the more fearful to offend; he sees us when we see not him, and the light of his countenance shines about us when we think ourselves hidden in darkness.
Our sins are not only then in his sight when they are a committing and whilst the deed is doing; but ever after, when the act is past and gone and forgotten, yet then is it before the face of God, even as if it were in committing: and how should this make us afraid to sin! When our sins are not only in his sight while they are a committing, but so continue still for ever after they are past and done.
God sets our sins before him; this shows he is so affected with them, he takes them so to heart, that he doth in a special manner continue the remembrance of them. As those that having had great wrong will store it up, or register it, or keep some remembrance of it or other, lest they should forget, when time shall serve, to be quit with those that have wronged them: so doth God, and his so doing is a sign that he takes our sins deeply to heart; which should teach us to fear the more how we offend him. When God in any judgment of death, or sickness, or loss of friends, shows his wrath, we should think and meditate of this; especially when he comes nearest us: Now the Lord looks upon my sins, they are now before him; and we should never rest till we have by repentance moved him to blot them out. Yea, to this end we should ourselves call them to remembrance. For the more we remember them, the more God forgets them; the more we forget them, the more God remembers them; the more we look upon them ourselves, the more he turneth his eyes from them. —William Bradshaw.
Ver. 8. It is a well known fact that the appearance of objects, and the ideas which we form of them, are very much affected by the situation in which they are placed in respect to us, and by the light in which they are seen. Objects seen at a distance, for example, appear much smaller than they really are. The same object, viewed through different mediums, will often exhibit different appearances. A lighted candle, or a star, appears bright during the absence of the sun; but when that luminary returns, their brightness is eclipsed. Since the appearance of objects, and the ideas which we form of them, are thus affected by extraneous circumstances, it follows, that no two persons will form precisely the same ideas of any object, unless they view it in the same light, or are placed with respect to it in the same situation.
Apply these remarks to the case before us. The psalmist addressing God, says, Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. That is, our iniquities or open transgressions, and our secret sins, the sins of our hearts, are placed, as it were, full before God's face, immediately under his eye; and he sees them in the pure, clear, all disclosing light of his own holiness and glory. Now if we would see our sins as they appear to him, that is, as they really are, if we would see their number, blackness and criminality, and the malignity and desert of every sin, we must place ourselves, as nearly as is possible, in his situation, and look at sin, as it were, through his eyes. We must place ourselves and our sins in the centre of that circle which is irradiated by the light of his countenance where all his infinite perfections are clearly displayed, where his awful majesty is seen, where his concentrated glories blaze, and burn and dazzle, with insufferable brightness. And in order to this, we must, in thought, leave our dark and sinful world, where God is unseen and almost forgotten, and where consequently, the evil of sinning against him cannot be fully perceived—and mount up to heaven, the peculiar habitation of his holiness and glory, where he does not, as here, conceal himself behind the veil of his works, and of second causes, but shines forth the unveiled God, and is seen as he is.
My hearers, if you are willing to see your sins in their true colours; if you would rightly estimate their number, magnitude and criminality, bring them into the hallowed place, where nothing is seen but the brightness of unsullied purity, and the splendours of uncreated glory; where the sun itself would appear only as a dark spot; and there, in the midst of this circle of seraphic intelligences, with the infinite God pouring all the light of his countenance round you, review your lives, contemplate your offences, and see how they appear. Recollect that the God, in whose presence you are, is the Being who forbids sin, the Being of whose eternal law sin is the transgression, and against whom every sin is committed. —Edward Payson.
Ver. 8.
1. The notice which God takes of sin. (a) Individual. "Our iniquities." (b) Universal notice—"iniquities" —not one only, but all. (c) Minute, even the most secret sins. (d) Constant: "Set them before" him—"in the light", etc.
2. The notice which we should take of them on that account. (a) In our thoughts. Set them before us. (b) In our consciences. Condemn ourselves on account of them. (c) In our wills. Turn from them by repentance—turn to a pardoning God by faith.
—G.R.
Psalms 90:9*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret…
Psa_90:8
Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance.
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Sin estimated by the light of heaven
God and men view objects through a very different medium, and are placed with respect to them in very different situations. God is present with every object; He views it as near, and therefore sees its real magnitude. But many objects, especially those of a religious nature, are seen by us at a distance, and of course appear to us smaller than they really are. God sees all objects just as they are; but we see them through a deceitful medium, which ignorance, prejudice and self-love place between them and us. If you are willing to see your sins in their true colours; if you would rightly estimate their number, magnitude and criminality, bring them into the hallowed place, where nothing is seen but the whiteness of unsullied purity, and the splendours of uncreated glory; where the sun itself would appear only as a dark spot, and there, in the midst of this circle of seraphic intelligences, with the infinite God pouring all the light of His countenance round you, review your lives, contemplate your offences, and see how they appear.
I. Bring forward our iniquities, that is, our more gross and open sins, and see how they appear in the light of Gods countenance. Have any of you been guilty of impious, profane, passionate, or indecent, corrupting language? How does such language sound in heaven? in the ears of angels, in the ears of that God, who gave us our tongues for noble purposes? Have any of you been guilty of uttering what is untrue? If so, bring forward all the falsehoods, all the deceitful expressions, which you have ever uttered, and see how they appear in the presence of the God of truth. Have any of you been guilty, either at home, or in foreign countries, of perjury, or false swearing? If so, you may here see the awful Being whom you mocked, by calling Him to witness the truth of a known deliberate lie. And how, think you, such conduct appears in His eyes? Have any of you been guilty of fraud, injustice, or dishonesty? If so, bring forward your dishonest gains; hold out the hands which are polluted by them, and see how they look in heaven, in the presence of that God, who has said, Let no man overreach or defraud his brother in any matter; for the Lord is the avenger of all such.
II. Bring our hearts into heaven, and there, laying them open to view, see how they will appear in that world of unclouded light, and unsullied purity. Surely, if all the evil thoughts and wrong feelings which have passed in countless numbers through either of our hearts, were poured out in heaven, angels would stand aghast at the sight, and all their benevolence would scarcely prevent them from exclaiming in holy indignation, Away with him to the abode of his kindred spirits in the abyss! To the omniscient God alone would the sight not be surprising.
III. Take a similar view of our sins of omission. Our whole lives present one unbroken series of duties neglected, of favours not acknowledged. And, oh, how do they appear, when we review them in the light of Gods countenance! But the duties which we owe to God are not the only duties which we are required, and which we have neglected to perform. His law also requires us to love our neighbour as ourselves. And this general command virtually includes a great number of subordinate precepts; precepts which prescribe the duties of the various relations that subsist between us and our fellow-creatures. And how far have we obeyed these precepts? Oh, how much more might we have done than we actually have done, to promote the temporal and eternal happiness of all with whom we are connected! Nor do our sins of omission end here. There is another Being whom we are under infinite obligations to love, and praise, and serve with supreme affection. This Being is the Lord Jesus Christ, considered as our Redeemer and Saviour who has bought us with His own blood. We are required to feel that we are not our own, but His; to prefer Him to every earthly object. Every moment, then, in which we neglected to obey these commands, we were guilty of a new sin of omission. (E. Payson, D.D.)
All sin committed under the eye of God
I. Sin is inward and outward lawlessness. It is disloyalty in heart and life. A black and bitter thing leading to black and bitter consequences.
II. Men commonly attempt to conceal their sin.
1. From themselves--and will hardly admit that some evil deeds are sins under their peculiar circumstances.
2. From society generally.
3. From God Himself, who sees and knows their sins in all their enormity and aggravated character.
III. In attempting to conceal their sins men are doomed to complete failure. They are already before Thee--even our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance.
1. It is so with all our personal sins.
2. With family sins.
3. With Church sins.
4. With national sins.
IV. To attempt to hide sin is to commit further and deeper sin.
1. Against ourselves--deeply injuring our moral nature.
2. Against our fellows--lowering the moral tone of society.
3. Against God--who is increasingly wronged and outraged.
V. Men ought to acknowledge their sin. Private sin. Public sin. All sin of every kind and character should be penitently confessed to God. Thou hast, etc.
VI. God has a complete knowledge of all sin committed against Him. It is in the very light of His countenance.
1. We have only a partial knowledge of sin,--in ourselves, in our friends, in society generally.
2. We have dim and imperfect conceptions of sin at best; for human lights are always changing, but God sees sin in itself and in the light of His own countenance, which never disguises evil.
3. We cannot prevent God seeing and knowing our sin. He Himself places it before His own eyes in all its nakedness and reality. What, therefore, must be the ultimate shame and misery of those who persist in sin? Therefore repent and believe the Gospel. (W. Unsworth.)
Secret things brought to light
If you were to take this church, as it is in ordinary daylight, and seek to inspect the secret impurities with which its atmosphere abounds, your sight would be unable to detect them. It would be the same if in broad daylight you were to examine the cleanest drawing-room in the cleanest house in this city; the sight would detect no uncleanliness in its atmosphere, it would appear perfectly pure. But now let a bright ray of sunlight stream through the church or through the drawing-room. Look into the beam! What do you see? Why, a new world: a multitude of motes, innumerable particles of dust, vast quantities of impure matter all floating about in the atmosphere which seemed so clean! In the broad, common light they lay concealed, but in the bright, sunny beam the secret things are discovered, and live and move before our gaze. Are there any secret things in our worship which need to be revealed? Do we worship in the light of Gods countenance, or in the light of mere tradition and custom? What more sweet and beautiful than the bringing of a gift to place upon Gods altar! It seems so spiritually pure and sound. We often regard it as a sign of moral and spiritual health. But worship is not so superficial a thing that it can be so superficially judged. Worship which may pass muster in a worldly light reveals its impurities in a more searching spiritual light. Every worshipper who passes into the light of Gods countenance is met by this bold challenge, Has thy brother aught against thee? and that is a challenge which searches us through and through. First, be reconciled to thy brother. Our secret relationships are held up in vivid clearness before us, and their rectification is an essential condition in all acceptable worship. Now let us pass from our worship to our social fellowship. Look at the dim, thick light in which social life is lived. The darkness is sufficiently tempered to enable us to detect prominent crimes, presumptuous sins--outrage, murder, and obtrusive forms of lust. But in this dim, thick light how much can be concealed, how many deformities, how many crooked dispositions, how many perverse purposes, how many malicious designs, how many revengeful spirits! Social life is poor because social light is dim. If we water a stronger social life we must have an intenser light, in which secret uncleanness will rise up to be judged. Here is a ray from Gods countenance (Mat_5:39). Flash that through social life, let that light play on our relationships; would any horrible crookedness be revealed? It is not a business motto. It is not a social maxim. Here is rather the maxim of the world, Pay a man back in his own coin. A man can do that and not violate the current standard of social morality. He may do it and yet live up to social light. But if such action will satisfy society, it does not satisfy God. Pay a man back in his own coin! That is not how the great God pays us! (Psa_103:10). That was not the way of Christ (1Pe_2:23). That was not Pauls way (1Co_4:12). The Lord purposes for us a clean, sweet, wholesome, social life, free from all secret foulnesses, and we can only obtain it by permitting the light of His countenance to fall upon us, and bringing our life into conformity with its great requirements. There is a bright side to all this, and I want to close with a gentle and encouraging word. The light which thus brings into prominence the secret sins also brings into prominence the secret virtue. The good Lord takes the candle and sweeps the house, not just to find the dust, but find the piece of silver! No bit of silver is lost. Every bit of secret goodness is seen in the light of His countenance. (J. H. Jowett, M.A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.