Genesis 16

Every sin comes with a consequence or two or more. We might think only the “big” sins are serious, but that’s not true. Yes, we are absolutely still dealing with Abraham’s big sin of sleeping with Hagar. It’s been war between Jews and Arabs since the moment Isaac was born. But that sin didn’t happen in a vacuum.

It started with the sin of self, of pride, of Sarah’s desire to appear “blessed” in the eyes of others by having a baby. It began with the sin of doubting God was going to accomplish what He’d promised.

It’s like throwing a pebble into a lake. That tiny rock can produce ripples that grow bigger and bigger, and wider and wider, and reach farther and farther. Once those ripples are set in motion, you will find you are unable to stop them.

Sarah’s sin began with a thought. Just a thought in her head that no one heard but her, and no one would be hurt by what she simply thought. It was private. But Sarah allowed that thought to fester, to grow into feelings that she eventually took to Abraham. Once she threw that pebble into the water, the ripples were unleashed.

Those ripples touched Abraham who then threw his own rock into the water, unleashing his own ripples that continue to reach out thousands of years later.

The truth I’m wrestling with today is the seriousness of the first sin: the thought, the glance, the anger. It’s the moment I pick up the pebble. Am I going to toss it into the water? Or am I going to hand it over to God and ask Him to take care of it? Am I going to repent, turn from that sin, or am I going to hold onto it, maybe feed it until it grows from a pebble into a boulder before tossing it into the water, then watch the ripples reach out and touch my life and everyone’s life around me?

My prayer is that at the moment I (and you) pick up the pebble of a sinful thought or feeling, we will pray, ask God to forgive us, and let it end there.

And I pray that if any of us are feeling the ripples of sins we’ve committed in the past, we will ask God to forgive us and intervene. He might not stop the ripples. But He can and will work for the good of we who love Him. We know that what Satan intends for evil God can use for our good and His glory.

I also pray that God will give us the desire to turn every pebble over to Him before we ever throw it into the water. I pray that we will recognize the seriousness of every sin and deal with it before we have to live with ripples of regret.