When you think you're doing something wrong, is it a good idea to hide what you're doing?

Proverbs 28:13

    Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,
        but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Charles Bridges (1794-1869), author of expositions on the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and The Christian Ministry, explains:

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

We hide sin, we put sin out of mind, we blame others for sin

Illuminated parchment, Spain, circa AD 950–955, depicting the Fall of Man, cause of original sin

God and man each cover sin; God in free unbounded grace (Ps. lxxxv. 2); man, in shame and hypocrisy. The sinners here contrasted are chargeable with the same guilt. But how opposite are the remedies adopted, and their several results! The contrast is not between great sins and small, but between sins covered, and sins confessed and forsaken. Whoso covereth the smallest sin, shall not prosper. Whoso confesseth and forsaketh the greatest, shall find mercy. "Love covereth" our neighbour's sins (Chap. x. 12); pride our own. The proud sinner naturally wishes to be; thought better than he is. His sin must have some cover. He must at least give it a good name. (Isa. v. 20.) He would cover it, if possible, from himself; putting it out of mind; banishing all serious thoughts; stifling conviction; and then trying to persuade himself that he is happy. To escape evil consequences, a lie is resorted to. Or if the facts are too plain to be denied; 'the worst part is unfounded. We were not in it so much as our neighbour.' Ignorance, good, or at least not bad, intentions, custom, necessity, strong temptation, sudden surprisal, the first offence; constitutional infirmity; even the decrees of God--one or more are pleaded in palliation. Or to save our honour--rather our pride--the blame must be shifted on another. Even God himself is made accountable--a secret but daring charge! carrying with it its own self-contradiction. Indignantly he challenges the proof, and lays the sin at the right door. (Isa. 1. 1. Jam. i. 13.) More commonly, but most wrongfully, it is laid upon Satan. The most of his power is, that he is a tempter. And no claim could he have ever established, had not we willingly sold ourselves to his service. Our father Adam--again--must bear the burden. 'Must our "teeth be set on edge" for the "sour grapes which he ate?" (Ezek. xviii. 2.) Must the unborn children be held responsible for the inheritance, which their father lost? 'But it was the nature that sinned, of which we are a component part. We "were in his loins" (Heb. vii. 10) at the time, and therefore we share his responsibility. Our own personal sin has ratified the deed by our own free and repeated consent. All these attempted transfers are vain coverings. Conscience bears witness to the truth, that no man takes harm but from himself.

We do good things in a vain attempt to offset our sin

But even this admitted--man with ceaseless ingenuity still attempts to frame a cover, for his sin. Some supposed good deeds are put forth as a compensation. (Mic. vi. 6, 7.) And by balancing good and evil respectively against each other, he hopes to establish some preponderance in his favour. Yet all these fig-leaf coverings (Gen. iii. 7) for his nakedness only shew his determination to hold his sin, and his pride of heart, which would rather hide it from God himself than submit to receive free mercy as a self-condemned sinner.

Omnisicent God sees sin and offended by sin


William Blake's color printing of God Judging Adam (1795).

These attempts however to cover sin shall not prosper. The voice of an offended God summoned Adam from his hiding-place to receive his sentence. (Gen. Ill. 9.) "The voice of Abel's blood cried from the ground," and the murderer became "a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth." (Ib. iv. 10-12.) Conscience lashed Joseph's brethren with the sin of bye-gone days. (Ib. xlii. 21.) Sauls covering his sin cost him his kingdom. "The leprosy of Naaman clave to Gehazi and his seed for ever." The proud accusers of their fellow-sinner were "convicted by their own conscience." "There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." Their darkest deed is wrought in the open face of an all-seeing God, and "set in the light of his countenance," to "be proclaimed upon the house-tops" before the assembled world.

Covering up sin brings misery

Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime, 1808 oil-on-canvas by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon

This unsuccessful attempt to cover sin, while it adds to the guilt, is fraught with misery. The love of sin struggles with the power of conscience. The door of access to God is barred. Christian confidence is clouded; and, unless Sovereign mercy interpose, it must end in the sting of "the never-dying worm." The covering of the disease precludes the possibility of the cure. Only the penitent confessor can be the pardoned sinner.

There is victory and forgiveness in repentance


Mercy & Truth are shown together in a 13th-century representation of Psalms 85 (10)

Long indeed is the struggle, ere every false cover is cut off; ere the heartless general confession--'We are all sinners'--is exchanged for the deep-felt personal acknowledgment, "giving glory to God. Thus and thus" have I done. Behold I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth." But glorious is the divine victory over pride and sullenness, when this first act of repentance, this first step of return (Luke, xv. 17, 18), is heartily accomplished. God needs not confession for his own information. But he demands it for our good. It brings no claim on his mercy. But it is a meetness for the reception of it. Christ has fully satisfied the claims of justice. But the claims must be acknowledged in the humble acceptance of the benefit. The mercy is ready; but the sinner must sue it out--"Only acknowledge thine iniquity." (Jer. iii. 13.) Our yearning Father is "waiting" for this moment, "that he may be gracious." There is no further keeping of anger. He shall have mercy, instant reconciliation. Words may be few while the heart is full. With David it was but a single sentence; but the closet workings of his heart witnessed to the enlargement and ingenuousness of his sorrow. Thus man confesses the debt; God crosses it out from his book; and sweet is the penitent's song--"Blessed is he, whose sin, is covered." (Ps, xxxii. l.) The dying thief confesses, and the condemned malefactor is crowned with life eternal. (Luke, xxiii. 43.)

Sin must be confessed and foresaken

But we must not overlook the distinctive feature of this confession. It is not that of Pharaoh, extorted on the rack; or of Saul and Judas, the stinging of remorse; or of the Pharisees and Sadducees, mere formal profession; or of the harlot, a cover for sin. Penitent faith confesses in the act of laying the hand upon the great sacrifice, and hence draws strength of purpose to forsake all that has been here confessed. For while the hypocrite confesses without forsaking, the hearty forsaking is here the best proof of tile sincere confessing.

Make confession of sins a daily habit

The confession, by Pietro Longhi, ca. 1750

And this first act of the penitent is matured into the daily habit of the saint. The further we advance, the deeper will be the tone of confession. The moment sin is seen to be sin, let it be laid on the Surety's Head. Every moment of unconfessed sin adds to its burden and guilt. The thought of a nature estranged from God; a heart full of corruption; sins of youth and age; before and after conversion; against light and conviction, knowledge and love; the sins of our very confessions, their defilement, coldness, and too often self-righteous tendency; all supply abundant material for abasing acknowledgment. Plead the greatness, not the smallness of our sin. Never deem any sin so trifling, as not to need the immediate application of the blood of atonement. Genuine conviction gives no rest, until by the believing apprehension of this remedy the peace of God is firmly fixed in the conscience. As Bunyan (John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress) so accurately pictured--not at the wicket-gate, but at the sign of the cross, did the Christian find the grave of sin. Here it is lost, forgotten, never found. (Jer. l. 20.)

Humiliation leads to godliness

William Pyne- The Costume of Great Britain (1805) - The Pillory

This evangelical humiliation lays the only solid ground for practical godliness. It is a sorrow full of joy, and not less full of holiness. No Achan will be reserved; no Agag spared; no right hand or right eye favoured. It will not be "the unclean spirit going out, and returning to his house with sevenfold influence;" or the man, who leaves his home, but forsakes it not, all his heart and joy being still there. Here the forsaking will be without the thought of returning; yea, with the fixed determination never to return. (Job, xxxiv. 32.) It will not be the exchange of one path in the broad road for another more attractive; but the relinquishment of the whole road with all its bye-paths. The inner principles as well as the outer walk; "the unrighteous thoughts," no less than "the wicked ways" will be forsaken heartily and for ever. (Isa. lv. 7.)

Source: Bridges, Charles. A Commentary on Proverbs. New York/Pittsburgh: R. Carter, 1847, pages 538-541.