You sin will find you out

But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. – Numbers 32.23

Sin is sneaky. It is insidious. It never seems as bad as it is. We get lulled into a false sense of security when we think that our sin is not really all that bad. Sin can sort of just lie dormant in our hearts and lives while we carry out and act like Christians and go to church and act right and all of that. We really, truly, honestly think we can get away with it.

Israel thought that. They thought they could get away with ingratitude and rebellion and complaining.

But God told them ‘you have sinned.’ Okay, that was obvious. They knew that.

‘And be sure your sin will find you out.’

No one is going to get away with sin forever. God is not going to make us change. He gives us free will and that free will has the capacity to get us in big trouble. We may coast along making foolish choices and allowing sin in our lives and ‘get away with it for a while.’

But…

But be sure your sin will find you out. For non-believers that is obviously true. Unless cleansed by the blood of Christ sin will send them to a Christless eternity. All of the sin they revelled in for so long will find them out and eternal suffering will be the result.

But it is also true for believers. God will allow us to carry on in our sin. He is patient, but He is not going to force us to change. But our sin will find us out. In order to bring about the ‘fruits of righteousness’ God may have to chasten us to bring us into line. Sometimes His chastening might be obvious and clear. But sometimes God may chasten us by just letting our sinful choices have their natural result.

No matter what we can’t mess around with sin and not get burned.

Wouldn’t we be much better off the lay aside that weight and the sin that so easily besets us?