“The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord,
searching all the inner depths of his heart.”
Proverbs 20:27

The function of a lamp is to give light. The Lord sees all the areas of the heart and knows a man more intimately than the man knows himself. When the Spirit of God shines on a dark place within a believer, the hidden things become exposed. The purpose of this is not to condemn a man, but to bring him to repentance and healing. That which was hidden, that which weighed the man down in bitterness or fear or anger, unforgiveness, or a hopeless guilt, when it is exposed and the person surrenders that part of himself to the Lord, a tremendous process of healing begins.

If you are stunned when the lamp of the Lord exposes something terrible inside you, something you’ve wanted to keep hidden, maybe something you didn’t even know was there, do not fear the repentance process. The point of it is to heal you and set you free from the burden that has held you captive for so long.

The fruit of that process is a kind of joy you’ve never yet experienced. Don’t fear it, don’t resist it, it’s meant for your good and brought about by love. Embrace it!