The entire fiasco started with one poor choice. Danielle Shea decided to drop out of her college, Quinnipiac University. There was nothing inherently wrong with this decision, except for the fact that she lied to her family about it. So, her mom continued to send thousands of dollars to Danielle for college while her family continued to think she was studying hard at school.
The lie became much harder to continue when it was time for Shea to graduate. In an attempt to deceive her family, she secured a cap and gown and even showed up to the graduation with her mother. When her relatives noticed her name was not on the list of graduates, Shea became desperate and had to resort to extreme solutions.
In an effort to cancel the graduation, Danielle made two bomb threats. All her threats accomplished was a 90-minute delay to the graduation while they changed locations. This allowed the police enough time to trace the calls right back to Shea’s phone. She was soon in cuffs and this growing lie finally met its end (Yahoo News).
It’s terrible to see just how big a lie can become when not taken care of immediately. Hiding, deceiving, and adding additional lies only makes it worse. One of the most memorable examples was with David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). His initial moment of lust ended up producing adultery, lies, deceit, and even murder.
It’s possible to hide sin from other people, but not from God. Hebrews 4:13 explains, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” There are no secrets kept from God. There are no sins hidden from His sight. We will have to answer for the things we say and do, even the hidden ones (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
Let’s keep in mind that our words, thoughts, and actions are never truly secret. God is watching (Proverbs 5:21:23). When sins creep up in our lives, let’s take care of them right away. Let’s never allow sin to grow and fester into something much worse like in the cases of Daniel Shea and king David.
Brett Petrillo