Many people have heard about Watergate, but many have no idea what Watergate really was. The Watergate was a hotel and office complex that housed the Democratic National Convention during the 1972 election. Then President Richard Nixon was seeking re-election against George McGovern. Nixon ordered that wire taps be placed into the DNC offices and so G. Gordon Liddy and John Dean orchestrated the break-in. During the Watergate hearings, it was revealed that President Nixon had recordings of all White House conversations, something many presidents had done. However, he did not manually control the recordings like other presidents had done. His recordings were voice activated, so he did not have control. Most White House staff members and the general public had no idea that this had been happening. These tapes could hold recordings as to whether Nixon ordered the Watergate break-ins or not. However, the most critical tape had 18 1/2 minutes erased from it. This gap was during a meeting of Nixon and his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman. Haldeman's own notes from the meeting mentioned discussing the Watergate affair, but the tapes had been erased. So the hearing were never able to produce a connection of Nixon to the ordering of the break-ins. With many calls for impeachment, Richard Nixon resigned from the Presidency in August of 1974. The irony of Watergate is that Nixon soundly defeated McGovern and had nothing to fear in regards to the election. Trying to hide his bad choices led to his downfall and disgrace.
Fast forward to the election of 2012 and the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS. President Barak Obama stated when the story first broke that it was simply a rogue agent in Ohio who had done this. However, as more facts have come out, it is obvious that this was a much wider plan to target critics of the President. Enter Lois Lerner, a Director of the IRS, who was brought before a hearing of Congress to determine what had happened and who was responsible. During the hearings, she invoked the 5th Amendments and refused to answer any questions. However, e-mails have been subpoenaed by Congress and guess what? Most of her e-mails cannot be found, have been deleted and are missing. Sound familiar? Perhaps the proof showing the President not only know about, but ordered these actions has been "lost". What will happen with this drama and how will it play out? I doubt it will lead to impeachment hearings nor Obama's resignation because the standard of honesty and integrity is so low for our leaders today. However, Obama's legacy will always be surrounded by this scandal, much as Nixon's legacy is surrounded by Watergate.
Why do we try to hide our sins and shortcomings? Any parent can list the numerous occasions in which they caught their children red-handed and their children vehemently denied any wrong doing. The more the children lied and tried to cover things up, the more upset parents became. It hurts to see our children lie and then try to hide what they have done. We would much rather have our kids own up to it and take responsibility.
I guess this is just part of our fallen nature. Remember Adam and Eve? When they disobeyed God, what did they do? They hid themselves from God. A relationship that once had been so pure and right, had now been corrupted by bad choices. Okay, it was corrupted by sin. It's been happening ever since because we all sin. Some people try to avoid the consequences by denying there is a God or by thinking a loving God would never punish His creation. But deep down, we know something is wrong in our lives. Some people try to avoid the consequences by blaming others. Some people try to avoid the consequences by avoiding the topic. Some people try to avoid the consequences by numbing themselves through alcohol, pot, drugs or anti-depressants. But none of that works. The pain just eats away at us from the inside out.
Our model needs to be David. David was far from perfect and he sinned by sleeping with a married woman and then having her husband conveniently die in battle. He thought he had gotten away with it and he had hidden his sin until Nathan confronts him. When David realizes that no sin is ever hidden from God, he is broken and driven to his knees in pain and repentance. It is out of this anguish that he prays Psalm 51. In verse 3, he says this incredible message of responsibility, "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me." He takes responsibility for his sin and then asks for God's forgiveness.
God doesn't want us to pretend we are perfect people. He doesn't want us to deny or minimize our sin. He wants us to be honest about our choices, our lies, our sins and own up to what we have done. He waits with forgiveness, grace and cleansing, although we will still have to face the consequences of our sin. So today, rather than try to hide what is wrong, how about some deep, gut-wrenching honesty before God. I promise, you will experience and joy and peace more profound than any you have ever had before!
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