One of our neighbors was quite upset after discovering that a car had plowed into one of his pasture fences during the night. More than 740 feet of wire and posts were torn out. Since the accident happened in a remote area late at night, the driver probably assumed there would be no way to identify him. There were no witnesses, so why shouldn’t he just leave? No one would ever know. But the Bible tells us something different. “He that formed the eye, shall he not see?” (Psalm 94:9).  

When Joseph’s brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites, they kept it a closely guarded secret among themselves (Genesis 37). No one else would ever know. When Achan saw a wedge of gold, a Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver among the spoils of Jericho, he took them and hid them in the earth under his tent (Joshua 7:21). No one would know. But both secrets were later exposed, and today the whole world knows about them. 

As our neighbor surveyed the damage to his fence, he suddenly stooped and picked up a battered license plate from among the tangles of barbed wire. Now the driver could be identified. Though our secret sin may escape detection in this life, the time will come when we too shall be identified and exposed before a righteous Judge. 

“Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). God is never ignorant of our thoughts and actions. Mercy and forgiveness are freely promised to those who confess and repent of their sins. How much better it is to avail ourselves of this wonderful cleansing now than to deny and conceal our secret sins, only to face them in guilt at the Day of Judgment. 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 

~ Pete Lewis