Hiding the Problems is the Biggest Problem
It is the hidden things in our life that can cause us the greatest physical and
spiritual harm. Life would be so much easier for us if the roots to our problems were not hidden so well. If we could just
reach down to what holds them in place and discover what gives them negative influencing power, we could deal with them God's
way and be cured. We could renounce any sin that was involved, and we could renounce the curses of them since God's Word tells
us that Jesus' death on the cross was for this purpose, too. We could confess and repent of our own willful involvement in
these sins if that were the case. We could forgive the perpetrator who sinned against us by believing that God is just and
holy and will make certain justice is done for His name’s sake. Then, we could lay down our right to feel hurt and angry,
fully trusting in the Father to heal our wounds this problem created. However, we cannot do these wonderful things if we do
not know the problems' roots, or if we are unaware that the problem even exists.
The three D's that hide problems and their roots
- Demons - Satan's unclean spirits that
use trickery to block the person from discovering what his or her problem is and what its roots might be.
- Deception - Deliberate and controllable
action of the human will that blocks someone else’s discovery of the problem or events responsible for causing it.
- Dissociation - The awful result of
trauma that leaves one part of the person knowing exactly what happened (an alter personality), but that one part deliberately
hides it from all the rest of the person and everyone else.
Out of the three D's that hide problems (demons, deception and dissociation), demons
are the most easily dealt with. When the Father sees that we sincerely want to be free, He will make the demons divulge the
problems they hide and all the events that surround them. Our Father will make the demons confess their strongholds whenever
He has determined we are ready to deal with the matter His way and not ours.
Deception and dissociation are the two D's most difficult to handle since these
are attributed to the choice of the human free will. Our Father is gentle and will not always expose a problem that we, or
some other part of ourselves, fight so hard to hide. These two D's can only be dealt with by way of openness and honesty.
Both openness and honesty must come from us. It must be our own free will decision to share with Him our problems, and confess
our sins to Him. He invites us to come to Him, but He will not make us come to Him. He tells us we must be open and be honest
with Him, but He allows us the free will to disobey Him. The problem with disobedience is that it secures bondage and can
never free us.
Reasons why some people continue to hide their problems
- guilt
- shame
- pride
- emotional pain
- fear
- trust issues
Whenever we have a problem we'd like to keep to ourselves, we are quick to defend
against someone finding out what that the real problem is. Although the exact nature of our problem might not be made known
by what we do or say, a person who knows what to look for can easily determine a problem exists in us. The give-away clues
are commonly known as defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms are behaviors we use to defend our secrets.
- quick subject changes
- faking sudden illnesses
- pouting or crying
- instigating arguments that have nothing to do with the current subject matter
- excessive questioning with intentional refusal to accept another's answers
- withdrawal
- excessive excuse making
- morbid joking about hurtful incidents
- defiance - doing and saying the opposite of what's right
- anger
- sarcasm
- shouting
- silent treatments
- lying - including self-deception
- fantasy - inventing unrelated problems that do not really exist
- manipulative behavior that demands others tiptoe around you or they must pay dearly
- making threats - suicidal & self-injurious responses whenever too close to
the truth of a matter
The biggest problem is hiding the other problems. It is the blockage that prevents
us from escaping our emotional pain. It is unrealistic to expect any healing without God's help. And God may hold back His
help until we are totally honest and open with Him and with ourselves. Unless dealt with God's way, the emotional wounds continue
to fester and can get worse.