The Tell Tale Sin                                                                                  

Joshua began an "investigation" into a trespass that Israel had committed.  He marched people in front of him until he narrowed it down to one man.  Achan.  He knew what he did was wrong because he buried it in the ground in his tent.  He stole something, yet couldn't enjoy it. 

I let my imagination go a bit on this.  I can imagine him coming home and could hear his tell-tale sin calling him. He would make sure no one was home, then unearth the Babylonish garment and admire himself wearing it - wishing he could wear it outside for all to see.  He would take the silver and gold, shine it up and pretend to be royalty.  Every day, that tell-tale sin would talk to him, but he could never enjoy it.  Whenever his wife cleaned house, he would wonder if she would find it.  Whenever he was away, he wondered if his kids would find it.  He had all this wonderful stuff calling to him constantly.

Then one day, Joshua assembled the people.  Achan had that awful feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was wrong. His tell-tale sin was pounding - beating like Edgar Allen Poe's "Tell-tale Heart." He couldn't stand it anymore! When Joshua spoke directly to him to confess, he did. That sin had lost its fun a long time ago. Now it had come to fruition - punishment would follow. His life had gotten miserable and now…death.

At times, I have sinned and not confessed it to God in short order.  That sin will speak to me, "You need to get this right with God and the person you offended (for example)." The only way to be free of it is to come to God before it gets out of hand. Confess it to God and remove it from my life.  That tell-tale sin must be silenced.

"And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done" Joshua 7:20.

© copyright Kevin T Boekhoff