Grace Isn’t Lenience

Sometimes we confuse God’s grace with lenience or maybe even ignorance. Because we don’t face the immediate consequences of our actions, we might think we are getting away with it.

But the Bible says, "Your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). If we were to go back and translate that from the original Hebrew, it would say, "Your sin will find you out." And what that means is your sin will find you out.

When Jonah went and preached to the Ninevites, he warned them, "Forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jonah 3:4) Actually there was hope in that message, because the fact they were being warned by God implied there could be forgiveness if they turned from their sin. When God brought His judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, there was no warning. There was no prophet Jonah walking through the streets, preaching to them. It came on them unexpectedly. In Nineveh’s case, however, God gave them a chance.

God does give a lot of chances. We might sin and then tell ourselves, "Nothing happened. Maybe God wasn’t paying attention. Maybe God doesn’t care." Or worse yet, we’ll deceive ourselves into thinking that God is okay with it. God isn’t okay with it. God never will contradict His Word. We are going to face the consequences of our sin, but God may be giving us the opportunity to repent. As Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, "When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong" (NLT).

We will reap what we sow, no matter what. It may be ten years. It may be a year. It may be a month. It may be a week. It could be ten minutes. But it will happen. The wheels of God’s justice may grind slowly, but they grind surely.