Daily Devotionals

Devotional: September 23rd

“O my soul, come not thou into their secret.”

These words are found in Jacob’s blessing of his sons. When he thought of the cruelty which Simeon and Levi showed to the men of Shechem, he said, “O my soul, come not thou into their secret.”

I would like to borrow the words and use them in a broader sense. There are secrets connected with sin which it is better never to know.

Temptation puts on its best face and suggests that we can never be happy until we have been initiated into its mysteries. It offers thrills, physical gratification, emotional highs, and the lure of the unknown.

Many people, especially those who have lived sheltered lives, are stirred by these appeals. They feel that they have missed out on true pleasures. They consider themselves disadvantaged. They think they can never be satisfied until they get a taste of the world.

The trouble is that sin does not come alone. There are built-in hazards and enduring consequences. When we come to experience any sin for the first time, we unloose a flood of pain and remorse.

Yielding to temptation lowers our resistance to sin. Once we have committed a sin, it is always easier to do it the next time. Soon we become expert in the sin. We even become slaves to it, bound by the chains of habit.

The moment we give in to temptation, our eyes are opened to a sense of guilt that we never had before. The exhilaration of breaking the code of sin is followed by a terrible sense of moral nakedness. It is true that the sin can be confessed and forgiven, but all through life there is the embarrassment of meeting former partners in transgression. There is the stabbing of memory when we unavoidably revisit the places of our folly. There are unwanted occasions when the whole sordid episode flashes back during our most holy moments—when our bodies actually pulsate and our lips muffle a groan.

While it is wonderful to experience the forgiveness of God for these sins, it is still better not to enter into their secrets in the first place. What poses as an attractive secret proves to be a nightmare. Pleasure soon turns to horror, and a moment of passion results in a lifetime of regret.

In the hour of trial, our response should be, “O my soul, come not thou into their secret.”

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