Can you burn water? You sure can! All you need is a little pure potassium. Thrown into the water, it unites with oxygen and produces heat so intense that it ignites the hydrogen in the water. So-burning water!
It made an impressive demonstration in a chemistry class, and students at the high school crowded around the instructor in the laboratory. One boy, David, noticed a tiny piece of potassium that had been overlooked. That silvery bit, no bigger than the end of his finger, was just irresistible! Almost before he realized what he was doing he slipped it into his pocket and was off to his next class satisfied that he had “gotten away with it.”
David learned that the hard way! Pure potassium must be stored very carefully, as it can even combine with the oxygen in the air. Jeans’ pockets are not air-tight-and the inevitable happened.
That Friday afternoon the class was quiet, everyone concentrating on the assignment (or dreaming of weekend plans), when suddenly the silence was shattered by screams. The potassium in David’s pocket burst into flames, setting his clothes on fire. He was rushed to a hospital and then to a “burn center,” where he was faced with a long and painful convalescence and weeks of skin grafts to replace the scarred tissue that covered the extensive burned section of his body.
Not all sins meet such instant retribution. In fact, all around the world there is sin going on-all day-all night-men, women and children are sinning against each other, against themselves and against God, and they think they are getting away with it. But “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Eccl. 12:1414For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:14)).
Sooner or later every sin will be brought to the light of God’s just judgment, and it will be plain to all that “he that covereth his sins shall not prosper” (Prov. 28:1313He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)).
Only God can “cover” those sins. Another David, the one who wrote the Psalms, wrote, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psa. 32:11<<A Psalm of David, Maschil.>> Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. (Psalm 32:1)). He did not mean “covered” as in a pocket-or in a closet-or in the dark of night but forgiven.
Do you believe? Can you say to the Lord, “Thank you for forgiving my iniquity, and covering my sin”?