Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?” Isaiah 29:15
What comes to your mind when you think of a cockroach? Most people despise the sight of a “roach” in the house, and with good reason because they can contaminate our food and spread disease…and they’re just downright ugly! While in Africa, we constantly had 2 inch roaches with whiskers that extended another 1 ½ inches! Disgusting things…only worthy to be stomped on! The name cockroach actually has nothing to do with a rooster (cock), but apparently is just a variation of cucaracha, the Spanish name for the bug.
Cockroaches love darkness. If you flip on the light, they’ll make a mad dash for cover, which may be the nearest sewer drain. This reminded me of John 3:19 where Jesus tells us that people loved darkness instead of light. When do most crimes take place? Usually at night and the darker the better. Using that as an analogy, dim corners of the mind and the closet may also cover secret sin that we hide. The tendency to hide our failures and present ourselves in the best possible lightkind of goes along with this as well. It’s interesting that we don’t have to be involved in sin to feel an urge to run and hide at times – being embarrassed from a simple mistake is often enough. Why do we have this tendency? It’s usually because we’re focused on ourselves.
We should be encouraged by the truth we find in John 3:21 where Jesus says, But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. This is not referring to ‘showing off’ our good works, but rather, as we’re walking as ‘children of light,’ it’s evident that our lives are focused on Jesus. With a transparent walk of faith in the light of Jesus, we’ll be keeping our attention on the Lord rather than ourselves. Let’s remember that God has no place for “cockroaches” in His kingdom.