You Cannot Hide Your Sin from God

But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD’s anger burned against Israel. Joshua 7:1, NIV

When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land the first city they conquered was Jericho. The city was completed defeated, not because the Israelites were such great warriors, but because they were obedient to the Lord in regard to the battle plan.

However, the Lord had commanded that everything in the city was to be devoted to Him. Only Rahab (who had protected the Israelite spies) and her family were to be spared—all else was to be destroyed. The silver, gold, bronzed and iron articles were to go into the Lord’s treasury. The Israelites were warned that taking anything devoted to the Lord would bring destruction to them personally and make Israel liable to destruction.

The next city to be destroyed was the small city of Ai. The city was so small that Joshua sent only 3000 men into battle. Much to their surprise and dismay, the Israelites were completed routed by the men of Ai.

When Joshua and the other leaders turned to God in prayer, the Lord revealed to them that Israel had sinned by taking devoted items from Jericho and they would not be able to stand against their enemies until the devoted items were removed. Further, the Lord told Joshua the man and all that belonged to him would be destroyed.

When all the tribes presented themselves to Joshua, the tribe of Judah was taken. When Achan presented himself, Joshua persuaded Achan to confess; “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath,” Joshua 7:20-21, NIV. As a result, Achan, his children and all his possessions were destroyed.

You cannot hide your sin from God! Sin destroys. When you open the door to sin—it rushes in and affects you and those you love. Unconfessed sin destroys—it leads to more sin and it affects—hurts—destroys not only us but those we love. Sin separates us from God. The only remedy to restore that fellowship is to confess our sin to God; turn away and begin obeying God immediately.

Obedience to God is essential!

God Bless!