Sin Never Stays Hidden

Saturday, May 25, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.”

Joshua 7:19–21

In January of 2017, a bank executive in upstate New York made international news. After being arrested and charged with drunk driving, Joseph Talbot realized that his mugshot would be printed in the paper. He went from store to store in his hometown, buying up every copy of The Times of Wayne County he could find. By the time he gave up the effort, he had purchased nearly one thousand copies of the paper for $1.25 each. His efforts were in vain, and in fact, his plan was reported all around the world.

Every time we try to cover up sin we fail. No matter how effective we are at concealing things from others, we can never hide anything from God. Even if we bury them under the floor of our tents where no one would ever look, God sees. He has placed the law of sowing and reaping into effect, and sin always carries destruction with it—unless we repent. If we depend on our ability to keep the news of what we have done from spreading, we will not receive the forgiveness and restoration that we need. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

Today's Growth Principle: 

Our efforts to conceal sin never work in the long run, and usually make things even worse.