The Cover of Darkness

Remember when being a “Peeping Tom” was considered a deviant type of behavior? A peeping tom usually lurked outside someone’s house and peered in the windows at people. It is defined in the dictionary as “One who derives pleasure, usually sexual, from secretly spying on others.” You could get arrested for this behavior! In fact, in the state of New York the sentence for a peeping tom is six months in jail! Now we turn on our TVs and “peep” through that window - our families sitting right next to us - in the comfort of our own homes - watching “Big Brother” or “The Bachelor”, “The Bachelorette”, “Jon and Kate Plus 8”, and “Survivor” (to name a VERY short list). We call them reality shows.

Recently, I saw a preview for a new reality show called “Dating in the Dark”. The producers of the show put people who have never seen each other in a totally dark room and film what happens using night-vision technology. Once the people have developed a relationship, they reveal them to each other in the light and film their reactions. Apparently, the cover of darkness allows them to “see” each other for who they are and keeps them from making judgments based on physical attributes. It helps to take away their inhibitions and allows them to act on their feelings without having to worry about what the other person is thinking. Of course, the preview made it look like it can get pretty “steamy” between the people. If it didn’t who would want to be the peeping tom on the other side of the screen?

In theory, it all sounds reasonable, I guess, but how do they “forget” the camera and crew are watching them? Does it really work to say, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain?” Maybe it does. They seem to have forgotten that they are doing all this in front of “God and everyone” as the saying goes. Nothing is hidden by the darkness because God has night-vision, too!

David wrote in Psalm 139:11 & 12, “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you (God); the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” These verses follow David’s acknowledgment in verse 1 “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.” All of Psalm 139 gives testimony to God’s knowledge of who we are and what we do.

Job, the man God called “blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8), understood that God sees all and knows all. Job 34:21 & 22 “For God watches how people live; he sees everything they do. No darkness is thick enough to hide the wicked from his eyes.”

It puzzles me that anyone would want to be filmed in these situations. I get the allure of winning money but what else does it offer? Is the 15 minutes of fame the draw? And what is it that draws the viewer? Does watching other people fail at relationships or succeed at things we thought impossible encourage us? Do these shows give us permission to behave outside the social niceties of manners and etiquette? It just doesn’t seem worth the risk to me.

The truth is that we are all part of a reality show. Our lives may not include cameramen, directors and make-up people but we do have family and friends watching us every day. Most importantly, God is watching us day and night! That realization alone makes me agree with David in Psalm 139:23 & 24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” The New Living Translation says “Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

The only “viewer” I want to please is God. If I am living to please Him, all the other “viewers” will fade into the background and the cover of darkness will only be needed for restful sleep!