What happens after you get a big speeding ticket? For the next few days, or weeks, you’re much more careful about how fast you drive, right? But if you’re like most people, after a little while, your velocity increases, especially if it’s in an area that you feel the speed limit is way too low anyway. It’s probably only a small increase at first, then a little more, until soon you’re blowing through at the same speeds that got you the ticket in the first place. That’s because the longer you ‘get away with it,’ the more likely you are to believe that you won’t get caught… at least, not again!

Lots of verses in both the Old and New Testaments remind readers to be watchful and pay attention (Proverbs 4:23; 8:33-34; Matthew 26:41; 1 Corinthians 10:12). Scripture makes it clear that we “reap what we sow” (Galatians 6:7) and that sin always has consequences (Proverbs 5:22). The problem is that those penalties don’t always show up immediately. You don’t get that speeding ticket every time you push the limit, do you? You can get away with lying for a while, unforgiveness can be hidden initially, and generally nothing bad happens the first time you go out with an unbeliever. That delay in consequences is deceptive. Because we don’t see them right away, we’re misled to believe there aren’t any.

But nobody gets away with sin forever… Nobody!

Continue in the story of Esther to see a real example of how “pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Apply the underlying truths revealed in this narrative to keep yourself from a spiritual disaster.