Secret Duties, Open Rewards

More than what is done in public, God values the words, the thoughts and actions that are done in secret. These secret duties are what God rewards whether they are stored up in heaven for eternal enjoyment or released upon for earth for others to honour you at the proper time, for God will honour those who honor Him. Thomas Brooks believes that secret duties reap "open rewards." He states that "God will reward his people here in part, and hereafter in all perfection. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him in secret. Those who sow in tears secretly shall reap in joy openly. Private prayer shall be rewarded before men and angels publicly. How openly did God reward Daniel for his secret prayer! (Dan. 6:10, 23-28). Mordecai privately discovered a plot of treason against the person of king Ahasuerus, and he is rewarded openly (Esther 2:21-23, with Esther 6). Before he came to the kingdom, Darius received privately a gift from one Syloson; and when he came to be a king, he rewarded him openly with the command of his country Samus. God, in the great day,will recompense His people before all the world, for every secret prayer, and secret tear, and secret sigh, and secret groan that has come from their heart. God, in the great day, will declare to men and angels, how often His people have been in pouring out their souls before Him in such and such holes, corners, and secret places; and accordingly He will reward them." What does your secret place look like? When you think that no one is around, God is there and He sees your good works. Will you trust in God today and see how He is faithful to reward those who serve Him in secret? "And your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matt. 6:4b)

Living Life