The Cost of Hidden Stuff
God sees secret disobedience. Our flesh often stages the biggest coverups, but God is all knowing. He would rather expose our sin in hopes of saving us rather than pretend all is well and us be lost. In this age of grace, we should be thankful because often the last act of mercy is judgment. God judges so that we can find a place of repentance and make things right.
The cost of hidden stuff is deadly for us and for our families. Just ask Joshua or Achan of Joshua 7: 6-26. Fearless leader Joshua, who was tasked by God to wrestle the Promised Land from its inhabitants, was humiliated by his battle loss at AI and grieving the loss of men, when he finally knelt to pray and ask God what happened. Why did they lose? This was the first battle that Joshua had lost. This was also the first battle that Joshua did not pray about and ask God beforehand. Joshua prayed too late.
In a rare demonstration of faithlessness, Joshua questioned God’s purpose for letting them lose the battle. Then, God informed Joshua that “Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them; for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff” (Joshua 7:11).
God told Joshua to assemble the tribes and He would expose the offender. God said, in order for all of Israel to come back into covenant with Him, the offender and his family must be utterly destroyed. A few verses later, Achan confesses to stealing and hiding a goodly Babylonian garment, gold and silver shekels. After Joshua’s men uncovered the goods, Achan’s family, children, livestock, tent, and all that he had were brought before Israel. They were all stoned and set on fire until nothing was left. Sin had a price tag that must be paid. After the price was paid, the covenant was restored.
As we live in the dispensation of grace, we do not see such displays of judgement, for which I am thankful. However, this does not mean hidden sin is not costly. All sin has a price tag, especially hidden sin. Families may not be stoned and set on fire, but they are torn apart a little at a time. Secret sin eats away at us, sometimes starting slowly, then becoming nearly impossible to stop. One sin gives way to another, and rarely does a person’s sin just affect only themselves. Families are crushed and destinies are aborted when hidden sin doesn’t make its way into the light.
7 ways to stop hidden sin. 1. Count the cost. Is it worth it? 2. Get honest with God and yourself. 3. Ask for forgiveness. 4. Practice the fruits of repentance. 5. Create boundaries around your disciplines. 6. Practice accountability. 7. Celebrate your wins to increase your strengths.
None of us can afford the cost of hidden sin. Bring it into the light and start living in freedom again! “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again” (Proverbs 24:16).
