A Matter of Time

“But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.”—Numbers 32:23

There is a story by Oscar Wilde entitled “The Picture of Dorian Gray” about a young man named Dorian, who is extremely good-looking. Another man of considerable wealth notices him and commissions a painting of him because his looks are so striking. Dorian sits for the painting, and once it’s complete, he’s awestruck. It’s so real, so lifelike, and so beautiful. The painting was so good that he started to hate it for he realized that as he aged, his looks would begin to fade and this picture would always be there to remind him of what he once had. So he makes a wish—that he could switch places with the painting so that the painting would show the aging process through the various stages of Dorian’s life, while Dorian himself would stay young. And to his amazement, the wish is granted. What happens in the subsequent years is nothing short of spellbinding. Dorian lives a sordid life of sin, though his face reveals nothing of it, while the painting begins to change. Each sin causes the face on the painting to become haggard and more terrifying. Each year the figure in the painting ages while Dorian remains the same. He is forced to move from place to place as the years go by in order to keep his secret from coming out. He covers up the painting so that others may not see the terrible figure in it. He becomes listless and tormented, afraid that someone will discover his nightmarish secret. One night, in a moment of tumultuous rage, he locks himself in a room and grabs a knife in order to destroy the picture so no one will discover it and he will be freed from its torment. His hand draws the knife and comes down quickly on the painting…there is a scream. His servants hear the scream, call the police, and run to the locked room only to find an older, horribly disfigured man with a knife in his heart, lying in a pool of blood in front of a stunning painting of their master, beautiful, resolute, and in one piece.

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” is an allegory of the devastating effects of sin. While we may live lives that seemingly keep our sins secret, inevitably our sin will come out, showing itself in devastating ways in our lives. It’s just a matter of time before it rears its ugly head.

In our passage for today, we have Moses warning the tribe of Reuben about what will happen if they do not help the Israelites capture the Promised Land. And as he does so, he reveals a key truth that helps in our understanding of sin—if we sin against the LORD, our sin will find us, which means that we cannot escape its devastating effect on our lives. Sin, as Paul mentioned in the book of Romans, pays us. As we do the work of sin, we will definitely receive a paycheck—death and destruction (Romans 6:23).

How can we escape sin’s destructive force? First, by repenting of it. When we repent of our sin, we do an “about-face,” turning completely away from it. Secondly, we ask for Christ’s forgiveness and claim the promise that He will cleanse us of our sin (1 John 1:9). Thirdly, we ask the Lord for grace to bear up under whatever consequences our sins may have caused, knowing that God will give us the grace and strength necessary to face whatever trial may come our way.

God knows our weaknesses and He knows all of our sins—there is nothing that we do that is hidden from His sight. Our sin will find us out if we continue to harbor and nurture it. Like mold in a home, it grows when it is kept in the dark, but when we drag it into the light by confession, it is killed.

May God grant us the courage to drag our sins into the light of God’s presence through confession, and may we live our lives in the knowledge that Christ has met the full payment of our sin on the cross, and we can now have forgiveness and peace with Almighty God (Romans 5:1). Amen.