Day 37 – 90 Days in Proverbs - Paid Sevenfold

Proverbs 6:30-31 [ESV] 30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry, 31 but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house.

At first it seems a bit odd to have this part about a thief sandwiched between verses focused on warning us about the evil trap of adultery. It almost seems like Solomon got distracted for a minute. But if we take a closer look, we realize that what these verses have in common is their warning that sin has a penalty.

An adulterer gets burned (Proverbs 6: 28-29). A thief, even one who is only stealing because he is hungry, even one whom we might not despise, has to pay a penalty.

In the Old Testament, that penalty for stealing was paying back 7 times what you stole. If you steal a sheep and get caught you pay back 7 sheep. In that environment, someone who could not pay that penalty could sell themselves as an indentured servant or go to a debtor’s prison until it was paid back. I bet that happened frequently, because if you have to steal a sheep to feed yourself, how could you pay back 7 sheep?  

All sins have a penalty. We know that whether the sin is adultery or stealing or being a false witness, while the penalty from the local government might be a variety of things, the penalty from God is the same: death.

How in the world would we pay the penalty of our own sins? We know that regardless of the sin’s impact in this life; whether it ruins another person’s life, destroys a marriage or two, lands me in jail, results in the death of an innocent person or is hidden forever and never gets a penalty in this life; it earns us the death penalty. And we know that that death penalty is paid by the precious blood of Jesus. My sin is paid for by His life in exchange for the death penalty I have earned.

Solomon knew that sin had its consequences. Although Solomon focused on the physical consequences of sin, we know that there are spiritual consequences too. Praise God that we have a Savior who paid for all our sins. He is the perfect Lamb who was slain for us all.

I regularly go before the throne of God and ask for this exchange – for the blood of Jesus to cover my sin. I’m sure you do too. The sacrifice Jesus made was worth more than 7 times all my sins through all my life. It is worth more than 7 times all the sins of all the world for all generations - those behind us and those yet to come.

Depending on the sin, we may still have consequences for that sin in this life – a fine or jail time or even the death penalty. But we must never forget that there is always also a spiritual penalty for sin and that penalty is death.

Sweet sisters, we must never neglect to thank God that the debt for all sin has been paid for by the precious blood of Jesus.

Prayer — Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You so much for Your great love for me. Thank You for sending Jesus to die for my sin and for accepting His sacrifice every time I sin and come to you for forgiveness. Thank You for Your great mercy and forgiveness. Thank You, Jesus, for Your loving sacrifice. I will never forget that there is a spiritual penalty for sin and that it has already been paid by Jesus. In His name I pray. Amen.

Your thoughts —  

_____________________________________________________________________________________