Today’s Scripture Focus: Genesis 38
We are focusing on sin recovery principle number five of 12: “We confessed to God, and when necessary, to people we have offended, the exact nature of our offenses.”
Talk about scandal! If you want to read riveting stories of the worst humanity has to offer, look no further than the Bible. You don’t need to burn time watching contrivances on television thought up for your entertainment and little in the way of redeeming value. At least in the Bible, we can learn through God’s inspiration, how to overcome our evil character traits.
The storyline from today’s Scripture reading is too sordid and has too many twists and turns for me to summarize for you here. Be sure to read it for yourself. Suffice it to say; things got complicated, really fast. The deception, sexual indiscretion, betrayal, and surprises all point to the fact that we need to submit ourselves to God before we self-destruct!
There are times we find ourselves in complicated situations that seem too embarrassing to rectify. This may have happened to you. You may have committed a crime, and the security camera footage was flashed on the news, and it’s time to turn yourself in. You thought you got away, but you didn’t. You may have birthed a child for a man who is not your husband and the resemblance to his best friend is uncanny. You should have been faithful to your husband, but you allowed a moment of passion to rule you and life just got more complicated. It’s time to come clean. You may have lied about your employment history, which netted you the job of a lifetime and one of your staffers congratulates you for out matching her. You got the job, and she didn’t even though she was the one qualified for the position. It’s time for you to confess and step down.
Confession of sin and wrongdoing is not fun. Confession can be a very humiliating experience to be sure. But the Bible says that if we confess our sins, God will faithfully forgive and cleanse us from all our evil. We should be specific and speak openly with no dodgy descriptions of our offenses and let God help us face the consequences. If we ever hope to recover from sin, we must let go of our guilt, shame, and secrets so God can deliver us. We can trust God through the process and no matter what happens, if we choose honesty over deception, He will see us through.
