July 2nd
Fess Up
Proverbs 28:13
He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
We all sin. It is the inevitable outcome of being human. Obviously we need to recognize the source of our sin and avoid placing ourselves in situations where we can be tempted to sin. But just as important is what we do when we sin. Our text gives us two responses to our sin: we can conceal it or confess it. It also outlines the two results that arise from our action. We will either prosper or not. It is contingent on our response to our sin. We thrive when we confess our sin and we don't when attempt to cover it up.
Solomon advises us that our response to sin should be that we confess and forsake it. This idea of confession is much more then simply being sorry that we sinned. It is agreeing with God's prospective of sin. It is acknowledging that sin is not just some minor slip up or a slight mistake, but it is deliberate disobedience to God and deserving of the full measure of His wrath. Confession is saying the same things that God says about our sin.
But it is not enough to agree with God's view of sin, our text says we must abandon sin. We must forsake it. We must see it as hideous and a hindrance to our spiritual progression and remove it. We must depart from it and determine never to find delight in it again. It is then that we will flourish in our faith. Where sin remains sanctification is stalled.
The trouble is that we, like the believers of old, find that we have the tendency to cover over our sins rather than confess and forsake them. Consider the excuses we make for our sins. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we claim that sin is not our fault. Adam passed the blame on to Eve and Eve put it on the serpent (Gen 3:11-12). Or consider Jonah who thought he could just distance himself from his sin by running far enough away and it would be forgotten (Jonah 1:3). There is also David who went to great lengths to try to conceal his sinful affair by attempting to make sure no one would find out (2 Sam 11-12). Oh, and there is Saul, who thought he could cover his sin be thinking that God would understand that he couldn't help himself (1 Sam 15). These are just small samplings of countless examples of believers attempting to cover their sins, but alas to no avail. In every case their sins were discovered and dealt with.
The repercussions of covering our sins are real. In every case above their actions led to disastrous results. Adam lost the garden, Jonah got thrown overboard, David lost his kingdom and Saul was dismissed as king. All sin has consequences, but concealing sin leads to stunted spiritual growth. Attempting to conceal or cover your sins is really senseless in the end as an every present and all seeing God was there and watched you engage in your iniquity. You can't hide your sin from God, so you might as well fess up.
Our text gives us two results of confessing and forsaking sin. First is that we will prosper. We will encounter unhindered and unfettered spiritual success. We will flourish and thrive when sin is not hampering our growth. Second, we are told that when we confess and forsake our sins we "will have mercy". As we find in the New Testament, this mercy is manifest in the person of Jesus. God doesn't simply over look our sin or just disregard it. No, sin must be "covered" or dealt with either by us or another. Jesus is "the another" that is able to cover all our sins by his sacrificial death on the cross for us. God's mercy is manifest upon our confession and forsaking our sin through the covering of the blood of Christ over us.
Today get real with God. Ask Him to show you sins that you have or are currently trying to conceal. Ask Him to help you confess and forsake them. Thank Him for His available mercy in Christ. Praise Him for His promise that you will spiritually flourish when you "Fess Up" about your sin. Ask Him to help never to try to cover up your sins again so that you might continually grow in your faith. So the bottom line is fess up so you can flourish.
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