This past Sunday our pastor continued our study in Joshua. Part of his sermon has stuck with me since then and I felt like sharing it may benefit someone else.
For reference, the scriptures we were looking at were
Joshua 7: 1-12, 20-26
This came from his final point (of a 3 point sermon)
The point was:
God never blesses disobedience
This is one of those points that I instantly thought back to different times in my life where I have been disobedient. More specifically, a time when I had a recurrent sin (aka: a hidden sin). That while I knew it was wrong, I continued to partake in it. We all have if we're being honest with ourselves. And if we are being really honest, most of us have one right now.
What is a "hidden sin"? It is simply a sin that you are doing that you try to keep hidden from others. You could also call it a "secret sin."
For you this may be: pornography, alcoholism, sex outside of marriage, gambling, cheating on a spouse, drug abuse, or something completely different.
But to burst your bubble...
You CANNOT hide sin from God
We all sin; every. single. day. We live in a broken world. But there is a difference in intentional sin vs unintentional sin. We are going to mess up and make mistakes. But from those we learn and we try to do better. We repent.
Now that you have probably taken a second to think about the disobedience (hidden sin) in your life, let me ask you a question:
Have you recently had a thought that is something like this:
Why is everything in my life going the opposite of what I want?
or
Why does it feel like God is against me?
Maybe you need to evaluate if you are being disobedient towards God. Evaluate if you are trying to hide a sin from Him. Evaluate if you are sinning in a way that the world says it's okay, but God says it's not.
If you can say yes to one of those, change it.
I can promise you that God is not working against you. He wants nothing but good things for you. That doesn't mean life will pass without trials and hard times, but it does mean that He will be with you and help you through. But remember, God will not reward you for being disobedient.
I hope this can help someone evaluate their life and make a change. I know that it has made me stop and evaluate my own. I am trying to be more aware of what I am doing and saying.
Love you friends♡