Additives in the car
July 14, 2007
I am a fan of NASCAR. Now I have not been a fan for years and years just the last few years but I find it exciting. It is like a high speed chess match at times.
One of my favorite drivers is Michael Waltrip. Now if you follow NASCAR I do not need to tell you about Mikey's season. It started when an inspector found a foreign substance in the carburetor. It was never released what it was but some suspected that it was jet fuel added to make Mike's car go faster for the qualifying session. Mike says he did not know how it got there, but the only people that could get to his car were his own people. For that reason, Mike and his team were subject to penalties and fines that they never were able to recover from. In the end, they never found out who was the one who did it. I am sure that the person who did it is glad they did not have God's way of finding things in Joshua's time.
God had given the people of Israel instructions. They were to take the city of Jericho and totally destroy it. Nothing was to be taken as bounty for the soldiers. The we find that Achan did something really stupid.
Jos 7:1 KJV
(1) But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.
What did he take? A goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight. Was it a lot? No, but it was God's not his.
The people of Israel were full of pride now. They felt they had taken Jericho (not God), so they felt that they could take on the next city. God told them there was sin in the camp and not to go, but they did not listen. And they got whipped. They turned to God and asked how to get rid of the sin. He replied:
Jos 7:14-15 KJV
(14) In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.
(15) And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.
Needless to say Achan was found out. He and his family were killed. He paid for his sin.
Know that when you sin, it is not a secret, God will find out. You will receive the punishment. You may be like the person who added the bad substance to Mike Waltrip's race car and believe that you will never get caught by the authorities, but you have been caught by God.
More importantly, what you do affects others. Mike Waltrip has had a terrible season because of the scandal. Israel got beaten. Your sin will affect others that are in the organization that you are doing the sin for. Do you really want that.
