Read: 1 Chronicles 7:1-8:40, Acts 27:1-20, Psalm 7:1-17, Proverbs 18:22

The wicked conceive evil;  they are pregnant with trouble and give birth to lies.
Psalm 7:14

Relate: Robert Morris is the latest in a long line of shame. Earlier this year there was a major fallout between Mark Driscoll and John Lindell. While neither one necessarily fell to that level, they both seemed to have no compunction airing the other’s dirty laundry in public. Last year it was Ravi Zacharias. Before that, Carl Lentz. The list could go on and on and on. The sad thing about this list is that it only covers the “big names.” If we were going to include small church pastors, deacons, etc then this list would be so much longer. Just think of how many people got caught out with the Ashley Madison leak. Twenty some odd years back, that list included me. Perhaps you have the shame of being on such a list yourself. Or perhaps you are not simply because the closet you keep hidden simply has not been exposed.

A famous English preacher named John Bradford was with a friend when a criminal was being led to their execution on the street below. The way I’ve been told the story, his friend commented something about a failure in morals among the common people. But Bradford turned towards his friend, pointed to that criminal, and said, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Two things I have learned when thinking or talking about the failures of others: First, while truth is important, we also need grace. For the sake of their soul I am glad that those who have fallen in sin have been caught and exposed. I am glad I was caught. But even more, I am glad that I had other godly leaders who dealt with me through grace so that I could experience reconciliation and I could make the lifestyle changes that would prevent such failure in the future. Second, we cannot think we are in any way better than those who have been caught and exposed. It is easier to shoot our wounded than to go through the effort to help them heal. It is also safer. When we do so, it helps us maintain the illusion that they are somehow less than or worse than we are. But they aren’t. The reality is, we are all just one series of mistakes away from falling into the same trap.

React: It is this trap that Psalms 7:14 lays out. “The wicked conceive evil.” It starts with a thought. A temptation passes your eyes. An idea comes to your mind. The temptation is born. What that temptation might be is very different from one person to another. But one thing is for sure. The devil knows how to hit us where it hurts. “The wicked conceive evil. They are pregnant with trouble.” Most of the time, that initial temptation is not the real problem. The real problem is that we let it gestate. We keep mulling that thought over. We keep mulling it over and bringing it back up like a cow chewing the cud. The thought, the idea, the temptation, the sin just grows and grows in the secret places of our hearts and minds and we think as long as we do not act on it, we are OK. Then we act. And we think, “I did a, but as long as I don’t do b, then I am OK.” Then we think, “I did ab, but I’m not as bad as those doing c.” You see where this goes. “The wicked conceive evil;  they are pregnant with trouble and give birth to lies.” As that secret sin grows inside us, we find ourselves doing more and more to cover it up. We lie to ourselves about how bad things have become. We lie to those close because we do not want the shame of our failure to be known. And we lie to the world creating an appearance of godliness but lacking the reality. Finally, the lie is exposed. God, in His grace, allows it to be exposed so that the sin can be dealt with and we can be healed. Satan, in his hatred, seeks to expose it so that God’s name can be shamed through us. And when God and the devil are both after the same thing, do we really stand a chance?

Respond:

Dear God,
Lead me not into temptation but deliver me from the evil one. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Help us to not allow the temptation towards sin to be conceived in our minds. When we are tempted, don’t let us to continue mulling it over and over. Help us to take the steps to move beyond it and get away from it. And when we do sin, do not let us try to hide in shame behind a cloud of lies. Give us the courage to repent before You and also before others. Let Your grace, not our sin and failures, be the thing that defines us.
Amen.