A Healthy Smattering of Fear.

¹⁹ Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
²⁰ And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done: ²¹ When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”
²² So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. ²³ And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD. ²⁴ Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵ And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
²⁶ Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor^[b] to this day.

                                                                                                    - Joshua 7:19-26 (NKJV)


Fear of God. A topic adressed far too infrequently. Something I personally have an inclination to shelve when I consider God. I find it much more comforting to cherish the loving and caring much more than the fear and respect. However, it is only a fool who ignores the unflinching righteousness of God. As a man, with the nature of man, I am not, nor will I ever be, acceptable in God's sight without the righteousness of Christ. But that cloak of purity that God's son has draped over my shoulders does not grant me immunity to wrath of the Almighty. And it is often the quiet, hidden sins that grieve our God the most. The ones that no one may know about. The cancerous infidelities that we harbor in our souls and in our minds, aware of, yet making little effort to remedy or eradicate.

As I consider Achan, a man among God's chosen people, I am shaken by the reaction such an innocent indiscretion provoked. A secret treasure stolen from the heathen hidden safely under his tent. The consequences were catastrophic. Let us not as believers be deluded into thinking that we may keep vestiges of our former lives hidden beneath the veils of our outward lives. The eyes that looked upon Achan, that look upon a bleeding, dying messiah, look upon you and me as well.