Genesis 3:8-12

When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. The LORD God then called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!" The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me--she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it."

When one sins, the moment he realizes he has sinned, he should confess it to God right away. He should not let the guilt hold him back from repentance and talking to God, because either way, we can never hide anything from God, so letting guilt delay us will only allow the sin to multiply.

Look at Adam. He sinned, realized he sinned, felt the guilt, and tried to hide from God. Instead of admitting his mistake, delaying his repentance gave him time to think about his wrong actions and justify them, letting the guilt fade away, and end up blaming it on someone else.

God first asked him why he was hiding, essentially asking why he was letting the guilt consume him and not repent. Later, God asks him why he sinned and disobeyed him. God will not first ask us why we sinned, because He knows why we have sinned, but instead why we did not repent. Our excuse for that question, which will never be a valid excuse, will only lead Him to question then, why did we ever sin in the first place? And to answer that question, it is too late for repentance, and thus we will only be digging ourselves deeper because we will have no excuse for our sins. Our only excuse for our sins is the blood of Christ, which will only redeem us if we repent.

Letting it dwell in your conscience will lead you to think about it. Thinking about your sin leads you to thinking about yourself. Thinking about yourself leads you to doubt the power of God to strengthen you against sin. Doubting the power of God will lead us to despair in ourselves, thus looking outward for the solution, thus blaming others. It all just starts a cycle of pride, furthering you away and away from God.

God forgives. Always. Just ask and you’ll be free and strengthened. You can’t do ANYTHING good on your own, so love Him. Trust Him.