"Secret" Combinations

In our family scripture study the other night, we came to a part where people again started using the "secret plans" and "secret combinations" that would supposedly allow them to do great wickedness and get away with it. Whenever we read about those "secret" combinations, I just have to chuckle a little bit. How secret could their evil acts really be if we're here, hundreds or thousands of years later, reading about them? Granted, there's a lot of detail that we're missing, so the plans themselves are secret, I guess, but if the point of these secret plans was to keep their wicked deeds secret, I'm afraid they failed.

The first person to use these secret plans was Cain. In Moses 5:29, we read:

And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die; and this that thy father may not know it; and this day I will deliver thy brother Abel into thine hands.

Well, his father, Adam, may or may not have ever found out about it, but everyone else did. Talking about these secret combinations and their original source, Helaman 6:25-27 reads:

Now behold, it is these secret oaths and covenants which Alma commanded his son should not go forth unto the world, lest they should be a means of bringing down the people unto destruction. 

Now behold, those secret oaths and covenants did not come forth unto Gadianton from the records which were delivered unto Helaman; but behold, they were put into the heart of Gadianton by that same being who did entice our first parents to partake of the forbidden fruit— 

Yea, that same being who did plot with Cain, that if he would murder his brother Abel it should not be known unto the world. And he did plot with Cain and his followers from that time forth.

 There are at least two lessons that we can draw from this; that Satan doesn't keep his promises, and that you can't keep secrets from God. Let's focus on the last one, because that's the one that I've given more thought.

One of my favorite Children's Hymns is If the Savior Stood Beside Me, in which the singer, in self-reflection, wonders if they would still do the things they do or say the things they say if Jesus was nearby, watching them. The last verse reveals that "He is always near me, though I do not see Him there." Something that we sometimes forget down here on Earth is that God is always watching over us. Usually, when we're reminded of that, it's meant to be a comforting thought - that God is mindful of our problems and is never farther than a prayer away, but when we're doing "secret works of darkness," the thought of God watching over us is far from comforting.

Whether we want something to be true or not doesn't change whether or not it's true. If God is always watching over us, that's true whether we're looking for comfort or trying to keep secrets. The truth is that nothing happens on Earth that God doesn't know about. And, for better or worse, He is a god of justice. When you do something good in secret, even if no one else ever knows you did it, God will know, and He will reward you justly. When you do something evil in secret, even if no one else ever finds out you did it, God will know, and He will reward you justly.

So, I guess, in the end, there really are no secrets. Not from God, anyway. God knows everything that we do and everything that happens in our lives, and in the end, He'll give everyone what they deserve and make everything fair. Whether, in our case, that will mean a final reward or a final punishment, is up to us. We choose what we do, and God rewards every action according to the laws of justice. Some people may do evil things, trusting the lie that "no one will ever know," but unfortunately for them, God knows everything. I wonder how much wickedness would have been prevented if everyone understood that. It certainly would have prevented some of mine.