You don't mess around with Sin

A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself; The simple pass on and are punished. – Proverbs 27v12

Sin is sneaky. It is normally subtle. Sometimes it comes at you wildly and forcefully and powerfully and visibly. Sometimes, tragically, we even go after sin, knowing what we are doing. But but most of the time it is there in your face before you know. It sneaks up, draws you in, and the deed is done. After we have sinned we almost look and wonder, 'how did that happen?'

The Bible warns us that we don't have to get caught in that terrible trap. The 'prudent' man, the person who is shrewd and crafty, sees sin coming. He knows the danger is there. He is on guard. He knows the warning signs. He doesn't ignore them.

Not only does he see the danger coming, he does the smart thing – he hides. He finds a corner, tucks himself in, and hides. He doesn't even deal with it. Joseph did this in Potiphar's house when he was tempted by Mrs Potiphar – he ran and hid.

The idea of hiding from a threat almost rankles us. It doesn't sound right. We want to think that we are powerful and strong enough to deal with problems. We want to face them head on.

When it comes to sin though that is where we get into trouble. To paraphrase an old folk song - 'You don't tug on superman's cape, You don't spit into the wind, You don't pull the mask of the ol' lone ranger, And you don't mess around with Sin.'

If we have any sense we watch out for sin, we see it coming, and we don't mess around with it.