Bible Questions Answered:
How do we have our sins find us out?”
What is this, conscience?”
Beri/ Edinburgh, Scotland (United
Kingdom)
Bible Answer:
Bible Text:
Numbers 32:1-27 NLT
1 The tribes of Reuben and Gad owned
vast numbers of livestock. So when they saw that the lands of Jazer
and Gilead were ideally suited for their flocks and herds,
2 they came to Moses, Eleazar the
priest, and the other leaders of the community. They said,
3 “Notice the towns of Ataroth,
Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sibmah, Nebo, and Beon.
4 The Lord has conquered this whole
area for the community of Israel, and it is ideally suited for all
our livestock.
5 If we have found favor with you,
please let us have this land as our property instead of giving us
land across the Jordan River.”
6 “Do you intend to stay here
while your brothers go across and do all the fighting?” Moses asked
the men of Gad and Reuben.
7 “Why do you want to discourage
the rest of the people of Israel from going across to the land The
Lord has given them?
8 Your ancestors did the same thing
when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land.
9 After they went up to the valley
of Eshcol and explored the land, they discouraged the people of
Israel from entering the land the Lord was giving them.
10 Then The Lord was very angry with
them, and He vowed,
11 ‘Of all those I rescued from
Egypt, no one who is twenty years old or older will ever see the land
I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they have not
obeyed Me wholeheartedly.
12 The only exceptions are Caleb son
of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have
wholeheartedly followed The Lord.’
13 “The Lord was angry with Israel
and made them wander in the wilderness for forty years until the
entire generation that sinned in The Lord’s sight had died.
14 But here you are, a brood of
sinners, doing exactly the same thing! You are making The Lord even
angrier with Israel.
15 If you turn away from Him like
this and He abandons them again in the wilderness, you will be
responsible for destroying this entire nation!”
16 But they approached Moses and
said, “We simply want to build pens for our livestock and fortified
towns for our wives and children.
17 Then we will arm ourselves and
lead our fellow Israelites into battle until we have brought them
safely to their land. Meanwhile, our families will stay in the
fortified towns we build here, so they will be safe from any attacks
by the local people.
18 We will not return to our homes
until all the people of Israel have received their portions of land.
19 But we do not claim any of the
land on the other side of the Jordan. We would rather live here on
the east side and accept this as our grant of land.”
20 Then Moses said, “If you
keep your word and arm yourselves for The Lord’s battles,
21 and if your troops cross the
Jordan and keep fighting until The Lord has driven out His enemies,
22 then you may return when The
Lord has conquered the land. You will have fulfilled your duty to The
Lord and to the rest of the people of Israel. And the land on the
east side of the Jordan will be your property from The Lord.
23 But if you fail to keep your
word, then you will have sinned against The Lord, and you may be sure
that your sin will find you out.
24 Go ahead and build towns for your
families and pens for your flocks, but do everything you have
promised.”
25 Then the men of Gad and Reuben
replied, “We, your servants, will follow your instructions exactly.
26 Our children, wives, flocks, and
cattle will stay here in the towns of Gilead.
27 But all who are able to bear arms
will cross over to fight for The Lord, just as you have said.”
The tribal leaders
of Gad and Reuben, told Moses, that they wanted to stay on the east
side of the Jordan, in the land of Gilead. Moses told them, alright,
if you and your men will help us conquer Canaan, to which they
agreed.
Numbers 32:23
NLT Moses warning to the leaders of Gad and Reuben.
But if you fail to keep your word,
then you will have sinned against The Lord, and you may
be sure that your sin will find
you out.
Numbers 32:23
CEV
But if you don’t keep your
promise, you will sin against The Lord and be punished.
I Chronicles
28:9 KJV (King David speaking to his son.)
And thou,
Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a
perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all
hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if
thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He
will cast thee off for ever.
Numbers 32:23 NLT
“...be sure that your sin will
find you out.”
Can a persons' conscience be his guide?
Proverbs 14:12
KJV
There is a way
which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death.
Proverbs 21:2
NLT
People may be
right in their own eyes, but The Lord examines their heart.
Jeremiah 17:9,10
KJV
9 The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 I the Lord
search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according
to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Only God, knows the heart of man!
That is why we must constantly read and know His Word, to truly know our own heart.
I Samuel 16:7
KJV
"...the
Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but The Lord looketh on the heart.
Proverbs 17:3
KJV
The fining pot
is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but The Lord trieth the
hearts.
Hebrews 4:12 KJV
For the Word of
God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart.
II Timothy
3:16,17 KJV
16 All
scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness:
17 That the man
of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Psalm 19:14 KJV
Let the words
of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy
sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
Psalm 119:11 KJV
Thy word have I
hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
