# 360 Nip It The Bud

The Book of Genesis

Day 360

Ge 38:24 And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is with child by harlotry." So Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned!"  25 When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man to whom these belong, I am with child." And she said, "Please determine whose these are -the signet and cord, and staff."  26 So Judah acknowledged them and said, "She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son." And he never knew her again.

Judah, quick to call the Law into play when it’s someone else’s sin, (boy does that sound frighteningly familiar!) orders Tamar to be burned! Never mind that three lives will be lost! (She is pregnant with twins) One wants to ask Judah, “Hey Mr Law man, what about that biblical admonition to not put the children to death for the sins of their father?

But a funny thing happened on the way to the stake. Tamar produces the signet, cord, and staff, of the man who made her pregnant. I bet you could’ve heard a pin drop in the sand at that moment when Judah saw the incriminating evidence!  Even though she had tricked him into doing it, he was guilty of incest with his daughter-in-law!

Conviction floods over Judah as he realizes that if he had obeyed the levirate law in the first place, none of this happens! That’s the way it is so often with sin. If you trace it back, it usually starts out with something small. Left unchecked, it will lead to the worst kind of evil.  Keep that in mind the next time you click that mouse on your computer and head into the dark world of pornography! Keep that in mind, the next time you get a little flirty with that person at work.

These little gateways to sins, often end tragically, that’s why it is so important  for us to continually come before the throne of grace and with the Psalmist, make our plea: “Search me O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” )Ps 139:23)

When’s the last time you took the time to sit quietly before the Lord and allowed the Holy Spirit free access to your heart? When have you given Him the freedom to shine His light in every dark chamber of your heart?  Ask Him to convince you of your sins as you read God’s Word. (It’s one of His main tasks!)

Pray that He will illuminate the sins in your life, write them down….every last one of them! Look at them, read them, confess them, and receive the promised forgiveness of God! Then shred the paper because that’s what God has done. He has taken every one of those confessed sins and thrown them in the Sea of Forgetfulness. You may still remember them as the accuser will remind you of them often, but I assure you God has completely forgotten them!