Shocking! A believer sins not in the dark but in the light—in the immediate presence of God!
One of the most important facts about sin is, first and foremost, that it is against God. Notice the three statements. 1. “If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the LORD” (Lev 4:2). The sin is against the Lord. 2. “Then let him offer to the LORD for his sin which he has sinned” (v 3). The offering is to the Lord. 3. “He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the LORD” (v 4). The sacrifice is made before the Lord—in other words, He is right there! This should be a great preventative against the temptation to sin. When Joseph was seduced by Potiphar’s wife, he replied, “Look, my master…has committed all that he has to my hand…nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen 39:8-9). Against Potiphar? No, against God! Likewise the words of the prodigal, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight” (Lk 15:21). Yes, people are hurt by our sinning, but ultimately all sin is against God, the Arbiter and Judge of what is right and wrong. This preventative against sin has been named after the title of a little book published in 1692, The Practice of the Presence of God. Its author, Brother Lawrence, an uneducated kitchen worker, learned that the secret of holiness was to seek to live in the conscious, unbroken enjoyment of the Lord’s nearness. This is God’s grand purpose for you and me: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph 1:4)—chosen, not to be saved, but once “in Him,” chosen to live “before Him” in perfect light and perfect love!