A man purchased a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the unsuspecting mouse into the snake’s glass cage, where the snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust. The tiny mouse had a serious problem on his hands. At any moment he could be swallowed alive. Obviously, the mouse needed to come up with a brilliant plan. What did the terrified creature do? He quickly set up work covering the snake with sawdust chips until it was completely buried. With that, the mouse apparently thought he had solved his problem. The solution, however, came from outside. The man took pity on the silly little mouse and removed him from the cage.
Proverbs 28:13 says: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
Often times today, we try to hide our sins and live comfortably with them, forgetting that God says we will not prosper! What is the correct response to sin? We can’t hide it. We can try like the mouse did, but sin will always come back to bite us if we do not get it taken care of. So how do we get rid of hidden sin?
First of all, Proverbs says to confess our sin. We must tell the ones we have sinned against that we have sinned. This may not be the easiest thing to do, but it is needed if we want forgiveness from our hidden sin. So we must confess, but secondly we must forsake. This means to make a 180 degree turn; to completely turn away from. Hidden sin does not just go away because we confess it. It is no longer hidden, but it is still a sin! We must turn away from that sin.
The awesome thing about confessing and forsaking is that we have a God who listens, forgives, and shows mercy. The mouse couldn’t save himself from the snake, nor can we save ourselves from sin! What sin are you hiding today? Bring it to the God who cares about you! Confess it and forsake it and begin to see God work!
-Mr. Tom Starr
