You Can't Hide Nothin' From God!

Have you ever done something wrong and then tried to keep it a secret? You felt so guilty and knew it was so wrong that you didn't want anyone to find out about it. Not even God!

I have. You probably have, too. Being disobedient and then trying to hide it goes all the way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Remember? They ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, then they hid from God when they heard Him moving through the garden.

Did it work? Hiding, I mean.

Nope.

God knew where they were and what they'd done.

Joshua 7 tells another story of a man who tried to hide something from God. His name was Achan. Achan was from the tribe of Judah. He was there with the rest of the Israelite men when the walls of Jericho fell. (Joshua 6) He was there when Joshua gave explicit instructions not to take any plunder for themselves because it all belonged to God.(6:18)

Well, greedy ol' Achan figured no one would know if he took some of Jericho's riches for himself. He found a beautiful robe, some silver and some gold, took them to his own tent and buried them. My guess is his wife and kids knew what he'd done, but they probably had a little greed in their hearts as well because it appears they didn't tell anyone, including Joshua, about it.

No one knew about it then, right?

Wrong!

God knew!

When Israel loses the next battle, Joshua falls to his knees, moaning and groaning and complaining to God about it, but God wont' listen and sets him straight! (7:10) He makes it abundantly clear that someone in Israel has sinned and that is why they lost the battle.

And don't we all know that sin has consequences?

Tribe by tribe, family by family, man by man. Everyone is called before God to see if they are the guilty party. Finally Achan is the only one left standing. He can't do anything except confess and the plunder is found in his tent.

What happens next should be a lesson to all.

Achan and his entire family are stoned and burned.

We can't hide anything from God, folks! If we try, then we risk being punished. It's as simple as that.

Achan had a choice. The same choice we have today: Obey God or suffer the consequences.

Because you can't hide nothin' from God!