You have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.
Numbers 32:23 ESV
I have a theory about criminals; it is probably not new or earthshaking, but my theory is that most criminals are stupid. And most of them get caught, often by doing something else stupid. There are even websites listing stupid criminals. Maybe those who don’t get caught are a little smarter, but it is still true that you may “be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23 ESV).
The sin may take a long time to be uncovered: deep-sea explorers have found evidence among the litter of the Titanic that one of the couples on board was not married to each other - each was married to someone else. The woman survived, but the man did not. I wonder what happened when she got back to New York! And I’m sure Joseph’s brothers were certain their sinful actions against him would never be discovered. But years passed, and their crime came to light hundreds of miles away.
Moses certainly did not believe he was going to be caught when he murdered the Egyptian, but he was seen and had to run for his life. A man in our neighboring town set up a camera in a family dressing room at a swimming pool for no good purpose and accidentally took a picture of himself! He was quickly arrested. I heard about a woman who came home to find her home ransacked. But the police had an easy arrest once again – the criminals were found asleep in the garage. And then there is the story of the man who tried to hold up a gun shop with a baseball bat. Somehow, he didn’t expect that anyone there might have a gun, and he was arrested. Criminals are stupid.
Have you noticed how often a lawbreaker is arrested because of some driving infraction? I like to think that if I had broken the law, I would drive ever so carefully. But criminals are stupid.
Then I think of another text: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, KJV). In other words, we are all lawbreakers – criminals, if you will. If we are not caught immediately, we will certainly be found out in the judgment. But what an advantage Christians have, for we have a Substitute, and Advocate, who is standing in for us rather than trying to catch us. “Got made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Corinthians 5:21 NIV). Consequently, if we do not accept His gift of grace and salvation, we are the ones who could be called stupid.
©In His Presence 2018 by General Conference Women’s Ministries Department