Hiding from God didn’t work for Adam and it doesn’t work for us.
How much time needs to pass before an unforgiven sin no longer counts against us? Is that even possible? The Proverbs writer answers for us:
If you hide your sins, you will not succeed.
If you confess and reject them, you will receive mercy – Proverbs 28:13 NCV
Sins can’t be hidden and they don’t expire when we just ignore them. What are the ways we hide and “forget” our sins?
- We deny them
- We extenuate them
- We diminish them
- We dissemble them
- We blame others for them
Sometimes we get good enough to quit thinking about them at all. Look at what David wrote when he was hiding from a sin:
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah. – Psalms 32:3-4
People by nature “groan” when they are in the wrong – when they need to be forgiven. This is for our own good!
because …
…people are by nature sinful.
God hears the repentant Christian’s call for forgiveness. (1 John 1:9) He wants us to lean on him, not hide from him. However, hiding our sin leaves us in a dangerous state (1 John 1:10)
July 1, 2014
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