One Man's Sin
Chapter seven in the book of Joshua starts out right after a huge victory over Jericho. God did an amazing thing for the Israelite army.
Then, the Israelites went and spied out the region. They sent a couple thousand men to go whip “Ai” and instead they got trampled on by the small amount of men in Ai.
They cried out to God and tore their clothes, asking, why He would bring them out to this place to only let them get delivered into the hands of their enemies.
God answers by letting Joshua know that someone had gone against his commands and now they couldn’t be victorious until they had removed the sin from among the people.
Wow! Joshua and his army went from seeing victory, because God was with him, to defeat. Joshua didn’t know that one of his men had disobeyed God’s command and all the Israelites felt the effects of his sin.
Some sins are just plain obvious and some are secret. Hidden sins that nobody knows someone has done or is in the act of doing.
How do these secret sins affect a person and those around them? How does the guilt of secret sins affect people?
Quite a few years ago, I hurt my back. According to my chiropractor, I had twisted vertebrae #L4. I was in quite a bit of pain. My right arm would go to sleep at night to the point that I couldn’t feel it and then it would ache all day.
Along with my arm falling asleep and aching, my head, my face and even my eye area would tingle. I also had a headache and was nauseous; I thought my TMJ was going crazy.
Upon further examination, it was discovered that not only was I suffering from a twisted vertebra in my neck but, also my hip was out of whack which caused my legs to hurt, it felt like I was having muscle spasms on the tops of my feet.
I was very uncomfortable and unable to function as I normally would.
During my trip to the Chiropractor, he massaged out my tight muscles and put my hip and L4 vertebrae back into place. I felt better after that visit, although I was still achy and nauseous from having everything out of whack.
The next morning when I woke up I pretty much was back to normal. I tried to be careful and not overdo anything so that I didn’t cause everything to go right back into a chaotic state.
In a way, when someone is caught up in secret sins or the shame of secret sins it can play out the same way in their life. Let’s say that I am a L4 vertebra, I’m messing up, weak and stumbling. And let’s say I don’t go to the person who can fix me. Imagine how that would affect the people around me.
I know from personnel experience how guilt and shame can make you feel inside and affect relationships.
When I finally went to the person who could fix me, all that stuff just went away. Jesus promises in 1John 1:9, that when I confess my sins He will cleanse me from ALL my unrighteousness. Guilt and shame have no place there because Jesus washed me clean. The hard part can be, believing it, letting go of failures and walking away from it.
When I get dirt on my hands, I know that if I pick up a bar of soap it will clean my hands and when I turn on the water it will rinse away the dirt and my hands will be clean. If I don’t pick up the soap - my hands will stay dirty. If I don’t turn on the water - I won’t be rinsed clean.
The same thing will happen if I don’t believe in Jesus promise to confess my sins to be cleansed; I will carry the weight of my sin.
Jesus told the lady in John 8:11 that He didn’t condemn her and to go and sin no more.
Jesus forgives sins.
But wonder if I fall again?
Jesus forgives sins.
Will I ever fall again? Yes. But Jesus promises to give us the Holy Spirit to teach, council, guide, comfort, and strengthen me. And His word renews minds.
Psalm 119:11-12 NIV
“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O Lord! Teach me your decrees.”
Don’t hold on to your secrets, go to Him. He promises to cleanse you from all your sins.
Then, the Israelites went and spied out the region. They sent a couple thousand men to go whip “Ai” and instead they got trampled on by the small amount of men in Ai.
They cried out to God and tore their clothes, asking, why He would bring them out to this place to only let them get delivered into the hands of their enemies.
God answers by letting Joshua know that someone had gone against his commands and now they couldn’t be victorious until they had removed the sin from among the people.
Wow! Joshua and his army went from seeing victory, because God was with him, to defeat. Joshua didn’t know that one of his men had disobeyed God’s command and all the Israelites felt the effects of his sin.
Some sins are just plain obvious and some are secret. Hidden sins that nobody knows someone has done or is in the act of doing.
How do these secret sins affect a person and those around them? How does the guilt of secret sins affect people?
Quite a few years ago, I hurt my back. According to my chiropractor, I had twisted vertebrae #L4. I was in quite a bit of pain. My right arm would go to sleep at night to the point that I couldn’t feel it and then it would ache all day.
Along with my arm falling asleep and aching, my head, my face and even my eye area would tingle. I also had a headache and was nauseous; I thought my TMJ was going crazy.
Upon further examination, it was discovered that not only was I suffering from a twisted vertebra in my neck but, also my hip was out of whack which caused my legs to hurt, it felt like I was having muscle spasms on the tops of my feet.
I was very uncomfortable and unable to function as I normally would.
During my trip to the Chiropractor, he massaged out my tight muscles and put my hip and L4 vertebrae back into place. I felt better after that visit, although I was still achy and nauseous from having everything out of whack.
The next morning when I woke up I pretty much was back to normal. I tried to be careful and not overdo anything so that I didn’t cause everything to go right back into a chaotic state.
In a way, when someone is caught up in secret sins or the shame of secret sins it can play out the same way in their life. Let’s say that I am a L4 vertebra, I’m messing up, weak and stumbling. And let’s say I don’t go to the person who can fix me. Imagine how that would affect the people around me.
I know from personnel experience how guilt and shame can make you feel inside and affect relationships.
When I finally went to the person who could fix me, all that stuff just went away. Jesus promises in 1John 1:9, that when I confess my sins He will cleanse me from ALL my unrighteousness. Guilt and shame have no place there because Jesus washed me clean. The hard part can be, believing it, letting go of failures and walking away from it.
When I get dirt on my hands, I know that if I pick up a bar of soap it will clean my hands and when I turn on the water it will rinse away the dirt and my hands will be clean. If I don’t pick up the soap - my hands will stay dirty. If I don’t turn on the water - I won’t be rinsed clean.
The same thing will happen if I don’t believe in Jesus promise to confess my sins to be cleansed; I will carry the weight of my sin.
Jesus told the lady in John 8:11 that He didn’t condemn her and to go and sin no more.
Jesus forgives sins.
But wonder if I fall again?
Jesus forgives sins.
Will I ever fall again? Yes. But Jesus promises to give us the Holy Spirit to teach, council, guide, comfort, and strengthen me. And His word renews minds.
Psalm 119:11-12 NIV
“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O Lord! Teach me your decrees.”
Don’t hold on to your secrets, go to Him. He promises to cleanse you from all your sins.
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