If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. (Psalm 66:18-19)

Have you regarded iniquity in your heart? Have you seen sin in your life and secreted it away, cherishing it, rationalizing it? Lust, greed, anger, jealousy, resentment, covetousness…?

We all have at some point. And some of us are now. Our sin tucked away, we play the part of the religiously pious. In other words, we are hypocrites.

Captured by the view of our sin, we cannot be captured by a view of the Lord. Whatever prayer we may pray, it goes unheard. Its trajectory falls short as our attention is drawn to our sin instead of the Lord.

The answer is confession, laying our heart bare before the Lord, repenting of our sin and seeking His face and His forgiveness.

As a dad, on many occasions I would say to my children, “If you want me to listen to you, look at me and speak to me.”

Our Father is saying the same thing to us. “Repent. Turn from your sin. Look at me. Speak to me.”