Are you hiding behind secrets?  Talk to us.

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EDT.

I didn’t know.

I didn’t realize that would happen.

Words of protest escape from our lips in our defense. Surely we can’t be held responsible for actions made in ignorance.  Yet, would an honest examination of your heart reveal you were unaware of the truth or merely that you pretended not to understand so that you wouldn’t be held responsible?

That is the trouble with truth. Once we know truth, we must make a decision. Either we will respond or refuse to respond, but we can no longer pretend to not understand simply because we don’t want to change.

Israel didn’t want to be held accountable for their sins. They wanted to claim ignorance, but Amos speaks as a witness against them.

“Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?
Does a lion roar in the thicket when he has no prey?
Does he growl in his den when he has caught nothing?
Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground where no snare has been set?
Does a trap spring up from the earth when there is nothing to catch?
When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble?
When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?”(Amos 3:3-6)

Through Amos, God was saying, “these things are obvious, everyone knows them, anyone can understand them.”  They had God’s laws but they did not live by them. They didn’t want Amos prophesying because they didn’t want to hear the truth or be held accountable to it.

Have we also closed our ears to the truth? It is easier to pretend we don’t know what’s expected of us than to have to confess our sins and surrender our will to God, but God knows what is in our hearts.

Holy God, You have revealed Your truth to me. Help me to allow it to penetrate my heart and change me. I don’t want to pretend any longer that I don’t know what is right.  Amen.

Questions: Why do we fake ignorance? What truths have you been pretending you don’t understand?

About the Author Suzanne Benner