The love that covers !

Wednesday September 15, 2021

The love that covers !

Proverbs 10:12 - Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all faults.

We have a beautiful illustration of this passage in Genesis 9:22 and 23 : “Cham, father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness, and he brought it outside to his two brothers. Then Shem and Japheth took the mantle, put it on their shoulders, walked backwards, and covered their father's nakedness ; as their faces were turned away, they did not see their father's nakedness ”.

You probably know this story, Noah got drunk and he was naked. Cham took the opportunity to talk about it around him. He had "forgotten" that if he was alive it was because of his father's obedience to the voice of God. On the other hand, the two other sons found a solution to stop the fact that Noah was losing his dignity.

Cham is the prime example of many of our contemporaries who find in the failings of others an opportunity to create scandal. Their first reaction to the sins of others is to shout it from the rooftops. They ignore the words of Jesus who said : “It is impossible that scandals will not happen ; but woe to him through whom they come !” (Luke 17.1). They believe that the culprit is the culprit, not the rapporteur. In their place I would not bet on this "truth".

I would like us to examine the attitude of Shem and Japheth. The first finding is that they did not continue to spread Cham's scandalous words. Then they didn't participate because of their father's fault. They were careful not to catch a glimpse, even a little, of her nakedness. Finally, they found a solution to stop the "problem", and the image of the mantle covering the nakedness is a fine example of our verse of the day.

My conclusion would be this : If we are to walk in love, we must have the same kind of walk. Let us not participate in the propagation of the weaknesses of others. Being silent is not complicity ! Let us be careful not to follow the bad example but go further in our approach : let us seek the face of God to find effective solutions to help those who capsize.

True divine love will always go in the direction of helping another even if it is wrong.

Good reflection.

Source (Ezekiel 37 Ministries)