LESSON 22

2/28/04

YOU’RE THOUGHTS: Have you ever made a mistake and hide it from somebody?

What can happen if you don’t admit to your mistake?

Make a list of what you might be doing that God might not like.

Pray about it.

MY THOUGHTS: They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid themselves from His presence (Gen.3: 8). That’s where it all started and it continues even today. There are two more incidents on hiding from God in the Bible I would like to share with you and hopefully this lesson will help you understand that we can’t hide from our Creator.

Do you remember Joshua? He assisted Moses when he went up to the Mountain of God (Ex. 24:13). Joshua also joined Caleb in entering the promise land because of their positive report to Moses that the land was a good land (Num.14:30). Well, after Moses’ death Joshua took over Moses role as leader of Gods people and led his people into the land of milk and honey or the good land that Joshua testified to Moses earlier, in the book of Exodus. As a leader Joshua took on the responsibility of mediator between God and the Israelites and because of this obligation to God, Joshua had to endure a great sin that one man did to his people which resulted in angering God. This mans name was Achan, the son of Carmi (Jos.7:1). Achan made the mistake of disobeying God by taking the accurse things or spoils from the city of Jericho after Joshua and his people overcame the city.

This act of disobedience was extremely forbidden but what I believed grieved God the most was how this sin was handled. Achan knew that he sinned against God and his people and he tried to hide this offence by burying the spoils in the ground under his tent. What should he have done? In the first place he should have obeyed the commands of God, through Joshua and left those things alone .The other thing he could have done was when he was overcome by the guilt of his offence at that time, he should have confessed it before Joshua and God instead of hiding it .I don’t think this confession would have saved Achan life because he did confess later when prompt by Joshua and God still executed His judgment upon him. The point is Achan‘s sin found him out and we know now, at the expense of Achan that we can not hide from God. He might have hidden it from Joshua but God knew, and He reveled this to Joshua and the punishment was carried out. You might be able to fool man for a while but God will make sure that sin will find you one way or another (Num.32: 23).

That’s what happened to our beloved King David in the second book of Samuel. David made the mistake of coveting over another mans wife and then compound the issue buy bringing this women to his home. Guilt overcame him so he figured he could hide this offence by having Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah killed in battle and then takes Bathsheba as his wife. He fooled the people that he ruled over but he did not fool God who ruled over him. God brought a prophet by the name of Nathen to David to inform him of his sin. I believe David was aware of what he did against God but was so trapped in shame that it took another man of God to convict him (2Sam.12: 1-7). When David heard these convicted words from the mouth of Nathen he immediately interpreted these words coming from God in whom he loved very much. That drove him to his knees in complete devastation and remorse in causing God such pain. He try to hide from God, but God found him and he repented.

I think Jonah is another example, read the book of Jonah and let me know what you think and I’m sure there are many more. If you come across any let me know I would be blessed by your responses. In conclusion I would like to remind you that we have the privilege to repent of our sins because of Jesus who took all our infirmities and bare our sicknesses (Mat.8: 17). I think all agree that sin is a sickness and we do not want it so let’s take it out of hiding and leave it at the cross. With that privilege and only because of the grace of God we don’t need to hide anymore. His love prevails. God Bless. See you later.

Scripture Ref: Gen.3: 8-11, Jos.6: 18, (God’s command), 2 Sam.12: 1-7 (Nathan’s story), 2Cor.4: 2, Luke.8: 17, Mark.4: 22, Mat.10:26

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