Day Five: Love Covers (Genesis 9:23)

"Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their Father.

As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked."

Genesis 9:23, NLT (emphasis, mine)
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Isn't this just such a strange story to be in the Bible?!

As my Pastor always says, "If you think the Bible is boring, go read it!"

This short post-flood "side-note", in Genesis 9, has always drawn my attention. 

In it, Noah gets drunk and falls asleep, completely exposed. Ahem, naked. 

In walks his son, Ham, who immediately turns around and exposes his father's blunder to his two brothers.

But instead of joining Ham in exposing and shaming Noah, Shem and Japheth do the most honorable thing possible-- They slowly back into Noah's tent, and cover their passed-out-drunk father with a robe, all while looking the other way.

This is such a foreshadowing of what Jesus would do for us, hundreds of years later, covering our sin and shame with His perfect life. But also- this is what He wants us to do for others.

When Jesus came, He summed up all of the Old Testament law in one statement:
"Love one another as I have loved you," (John 15:9).

It's simple, but it's not easy.

Galatians 6:2 tells us, "Bear (endure, carry) one another's burdens and troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ..."

When I look at my life in the honest light of God's Word, I recognize that I have been a whole lot more like Ham than I have his righteous brothers.

But I'm working on that.

I'm keeping this visual at the front of my mind. I'm remembering that love covers. And I'm allowing God to change my heart so that I no longer point and laugh when others fall, but I follow in his loving, honorable example.

I'm so very much a work-in-progress.

"...love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8

Dwelling in Him,