The Covering

 

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.

—Psalm 91:4

Most of us like to have a covering over us. Whether we want our feet warmed with comfy socks, want the warm bedlinens when we snuggle into our beds on a cold night, want to have Grandma’s quilt cover us when we have the chills, or want our ears covered when we walk in the snow, a covering of something soft and insulating gives us a sense of well-being.

Babies, like the one in the photo above, wear a swaddling to cover them and to help them feel the security they have been used to in the womb. When we recall the story of Adam and Eve, we remember that after they sinned against God, they hastened to make coverings for themselves because they realized they were naked.

Coverings comfort us, warm us, or hide us—remember the “tents” you and your siblings would make from blankets hung over chairs in the living room, or thrown over the clotheslines in the yard? Coverings protect us. We don’t want to have our physical, emotional, spiritual, or intellectual “nakedness” exposed, either to the elements, or to the clear view of others.

God has given to us a covering in the protection of His Son’s blood on the cross of Calvary. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 4:7, quotes the psalmist David when he writes:

“Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”

In other words, through the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, God has taken care of the debt we owe for our sinful thoughts, words, and deeds. God lovingly acts toward us like a friend that, when the waitress brings the tab in a restaurant at the end of a meal, “I’ll cover this!”

In the same way that our sins have been covered by Jesus’ shed blood, He expects us to cover the sins of others. He particularly wants us to cover any information we learn about another person that might reflect badly on them.

By cover, I’m not talking about hiding something someone does that breaks the law. Nor am I talking about a behavior that might put another person at serious risk. No, I’m talking about providing a covering of love for what someone may have done in the past or the present that simply reflects badly on them—something that others really do not need to know about that person.

Proverbs 10:12 states:

Love covers over all wrongs.

Similarly, 1 Peter 4:8 instructs us:

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

How do we do that? Here are the steps we should take when someone sins against us, or more so when we learn something negative about someone:

• First, we must either absorb any hurt against us by another person, or we must go to that person and talk it out. If that person happens to be a fellow believer, we must follow Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 18:15-17.
  
  
• Secondly, we must never mention the offense, or the sin, or something negative we learn about another person to anyone else until we take the first step listed above.
  
  
• Thirdly, we must pray for the person about whom we know a damaging story, or about the sin that person has committed against us or others. God alone needs to know the sin and the danger of it—and, in fact, He already does. Our enemy the devil loves to expose the sin that he himself has tempted the sinner to commit. We need not help Satan out by re-exposing that sin to others and stirring up more sin.
  
  

God loves us enough to have provided a covering for our sins, and to forgive and forget those sins when we confess them to Him. Following the example of our Lord and Savior, let us love each other enough to provide a covering for the sins that others commit against us, and especially for the negative things we may learn about another person, as well.

 

 

The All-Healer

 

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.

—Matthew 4:23-24

Our society uses specialists in virtually every branch of medicine and mental health. No one doctor can be expected to have developed an expertise in every aspect of healing. Yet, our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ—as He was called in Scripture: “the Great Physician”—was said by Presbyterian pastor, Matthew Henry (1662-1714), to have “a salve for every sore.” ¹

In his commentary on the Scripture passage quoted at the beginning of this blog post, Matthew Henry refers to Jesus as a “panpharmacon.” We can see similarities in the English transliteration of this Greek word to ones we use in our common language of today—pan: across; pharma: drugs; con: with. Putting these three word segments together, we could say that Jesus acts as a “drug” that brings cures across the gamut of all diseases.

Yet, with all the healing of diseases of the body and mind that Jesus did during His life here on earth, He had an even greater mission in performing these miracles of healing. As the one and only Son of God, Jesus came to earth in order to cure us from the disease of sin, the original congenital malady inflicting us all.

According to Malachi 4:2, God speaks to the people of Israel about His Son, Jesus, and declares:

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

According to Matthew 9:12, Jesus is criticized by the religious leaders for eating with sinners. In response, this passage records these words of Jesus:

But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

Throughout the New Testament, we find many examples of Jesus bringing healing to those in need. Jesus used every opportunity of physical healing to preach His cure for the sin-sickness of the soul.

In her book, Portraits of Devotion, Beth Moore reflects on Matthew Henry’s insight and her own experience with the Great Physician, especially through His written Word: ²

His Word was a “panpharmacon.” Ah, yes. I have yet to have an ailment God had no salve to soothe. What may be even more peculiar is that I have yet to have an ailment of soul that God’s Word was not the first to point out, diagnose, then heal … That’s the nature of His Word. As Psalm 107:20 says, “He sent His word and healed them; He rescued them from the pit.” How often God has had to send forth His Word and begin the healing to get me healthy enough to face the diagnosis! … Every time God has prepared us with His Word and gotten us to a point that we can receive a hard “pill” to swallow from Him, healing has already begun.

Have you had a check-up lately? Has God’s written Word come to you with a diagnosis of your need? Please know that not one malady with which we struggle, including the soul-sickness of our sins, is so wretched that our God does not have the power to heal that malady.

God lovingly waits to bring healing and wholeness, vigor and new strength, to His people everywhere. Let us pray and trust His written Word in that healing, and expect great things to happen.

______________________

1 Henry, Matthew. Commentary on the Whole Bible – Vol. 5. McLean, Virginia: MacDonald Publishing Company, 1980. Pp. 44-45

2 Moore, Beth. Portraits of Devotion. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Publishing Group, 2014. p. 141

 

 

Warning!

 

Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life, and that day will close in on you suddenly like a trap. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.

—Luke 21:34

Look carefully at the photo above. It illustrates one of my elementary school chorus rehearsals from more than 20 years ago. But, the point of this photo is the box inside the red circle.

From your visits to various public buildings, you may recognize this as an appliance that the general public calls a “fire alarm.” There is quite an interesting story related to this particular lone appliance.

During an extensive renovation of my elementary school building, the contractor installed a new, state-of-the-art fire alarm system. The installation took place over the Christmas holiday break when no children nor teachers were present and none of the normal sources of ambient sound existed throughout the building.

This meant that no children in my classroom were singing. In other classrooms, children were not watching instructional videos, or having noise-producing group learning sessions. Nevertheless, on the first “nice weather” day after we returned to school, the principal decided to hold a fire drill. But, the children in my classroom were singing. We didn’t hear the sound of the new fire alarm system alerting us from the hallway outside my classroom and we missed the fire drill.

Naturally, I complained about the lack of warning. No one at the school seemed to know what to do about this.

One day, a short time later, a technician came to my classroom and installed the appliance shown in this photo. I asked him if he was installing additional “speaker/strobes” in other classrooms. “No,” he replied. “Just this one.” I guess it sometimes does depend on who you talk to to try to get things fixed.

In any case, the valuable lesson here is that when an emergency exists, the warnings should be heard and heeded. The warning must be “loud enough” for people to hear. This means the person giving the warning must do so loudly and clearly. And, when the people hear the warning, they must act swiftly.

I think the Church sits in a very similar position at the present moment:

• Do we see the present moral, political, and spiritual emergency?
  
  
• Do we hear the warnings given to us in God’s written Word and in the voices of His faithful servants?
  
  
• And, are we going to act swiftly to respond to the warnings regarding these emergencies?
  
  

What should we do? What can we do? Consider these additional questions:

• Do we have the urgency in our prayers that prompts us to fall on our knees before God and plead for our country and our world?
  
  
• Are we willing to set aside specific times to gather with our fellow believers and plead with God to bring a sweeping revival to our nation and the world?
  
  
• Are we consciously listening for the nudging of the Holy Spirit when He prompts us to gently and kindly share our faith with those whom we may encounter along the normal pathway of life?
  
  
• Or, do the other “sounds” in our life drown out the warning signals that God is so clearly giving us?
  
  

Biola University’s, Barry Krammes, Professor Emeritus, wrote the following in a recent devotional: ¹

For far too long Christians have taken many of their cues from the world. Someone recently referred to the church in the West as “a cruise ship” where professionals meet all the needs of its passengers. In this unprecedented time of deception, the church must transform itself into “a battleship” where every person on board is alert and ready for an impending attack. Author Rod Dreher’s new book, Live Not by Lies: A Handbook for Christian Dissidents ² warns about the new totalitarianism that is currently sweeping the world. In it he writes:

The old totalitarianism conquered societies through fear of pain; the new one will conquer primarily through manipulating people’s love of pleasure and fear of discomfort … admirers love being associated with Jesus, but when trouble comes, they either turn on him or in some way try to put distance between themselves and their Lord … The follower recognizes the cost of discipleship and is willing to pay it.

A time of painful testing, even persecution, is coming. Lukewarm or shallow Christians will not come through with their faith intact. Christians today must dig deep into the Bible and church tradition, and teach themselves how and why today’s post-Christian world, with its self-centeredness, its quest for happiness and rejection of sacred order and transcendent values, is a rival religion to authentic Christianity.

We need to get close enough to the warning signals of Scripture that we hear the urgent message that God is sending to us. Then, we must set our hearts and minds to watch and pray.

We must pray specifically for the corruption and decay all around us. Can we see that the old Snake, who tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, is prowling around seeking which churches and which Christians he can devour, which governments and institutions he can destroy, and how he can deafen the world to the sound of the gospel—for the gospel alone can save us from the wrath to come?

______________________

1 Krammes, Barry. The Lent Project. La Mirada, California: Biola University Center for Christianity, Culture, and the Arts, 2021. Devotional for February 27, 2021.

2 Dreher, Rod. Live Not By Lies. New York, New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2020. p. 162.

 

 

Spare No Expense

 

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

—Romans 8:31-32

Some men will stop at nothing to buy their bride-to-be the most expensive engagement ring that they can afford, either using cash on hand or borrowing a significant amount of money. Those with plenty of means will stop at nothing to provide their children with the best education in the world.

In contrast, we watch the thousands of children marching across the U.S. southern border. Their parents have given all their meager funds to “buy” a chance for freedom and a better life for these young ones. They have paid unscrupulous gangsters to transport their children, not knowing for certain whether or not their loved ones will arrive safe and unharmed.

Perhaps you know parents who have sold everything to allow their child the best medical treatment possible for a cure for cancer. You may know parents who have sacrificed for years in order to send their children to top-rated colleges or universities. Or, perhaps you know ordinary hard-working people who have taken out a second mortgage on their houses in order to save their businesses during this stressful economic time. Certainly, we can find plenty of examples of desperate people spending all they have to achieve some goal or to acquire almost impossible things.

In 1 Kings 17:7-24 we read of the widow of Zarephath who had only a handful of flour and a little oil for herself and her son. But, on Elijah’s request, this poor woman baked a small cake for Elijah to eat. In her obedience of faith, she gave everything.

Likewise, in Mark 12:41-44, we read the account where Jesus watched a widow place her meager offering of two small coins into the temple treasury. She gave all that she had on which to live in order to be faithful to the God whom she knew loved her.

Of course, the greatest example of sparing no expense comes from the sacrifice of our God in giving the best He has, His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In giving this Sacrifice to die a cruel death on the Roman cross of torture, the Father gave the only person who could achieve the blameless and sinless standard of righteousness that He requires. God did this amazingly sacrificial act that He might bring “many sons to glory.” He gave all! And, He did this for us—for those whom He loved.

And, what does this Greatest Sacrifice require of us? Read here the words of Jesus from Matthew 10:37-39:

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

God expects His children to spare no expense in following Him, in using our means and our money, in giving our time and our obedience. I remember a little ditty from childhood that captures these thoughts: ¹

After all He’s done for me,
after all He’s done for me,
How can I do less than give Him my best,
and live for Him completely,
After all He’s done for me.

______________________

1 Daasvand, Betsy and Loveless, Wendell. “After All He’s Done for Me.” Carol Stream, Illinois: Hope Publishing, 1940.