Are you covered?

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TODAY’S SPECIAL: 2 Kings  15-17; Psalm 105

TO CHEW ON: “He spread a cloud for a covering…” Psalm 105:39

Psalm 105 is a praise poem recalling the ways God has helped Israel in the past. On the list is the cloud that accompanied Israel throughout their wilderness wanderings.

It was a cloud that served many purposes:

• It gave them direction, i.e. went before them telling them where to go. Exodus 13:21

• It stopped them. When the cloud came to rest, they were to stop and not move on again until the cloud lifted - Numbers 9:17-23.

• It gave them light at night, so they could travel by day or by night, to avoid the desert’s scorching heat - Numbers 13:21.

• It shielded and hid them when the Egyptians pursued them. It was dark on the Egyptian side but light on the Israelite side. Its presence gave them light and time to cross the miraculously dried up Red Sea at night while obscuring the Egyptian’s way - Exodus 14:19,20.

The psalmist calls it a “covering.”

God provided other coverings for people as well.

• He covered Adam and Eve with clothes, animal skin coverings after their disobedience stole their innocence form them (Genesis 3:21).

• His covering or protection is sometimes referred to as wings. The picture is of a mother bird sheltering her young (Psalm 57:1) or rescuing them (Deuteronomy 32:11). Boaz referred to God’s sheltering wings when he singled out Ruth with an invitation to glean in his field (Ruth 2:12).

• Bible writers also refer to God’s covering as a shelter or refuge from the elements of life and nature (Isaiah 25:4).

• And then there are all the references to God covering His people in pure, beautiful clothes—way nicer clothes than those skin tunics of Adam and Eve:

- Robes of righteousness and salvation (Isaiah 61:10).
- Beautiful embroidered garments (Ezekiel 16:10).
- “Best robes” - Luke 15:22.
- Wedding clothes - Matthew 22:11.
- White clothes - Revelation 7:9
- “Fine linen clean and bright” - Revelation 19:8.

Who would not welcome such covering? Sadly, not everyone. In our reading chapters from 2 Kings today, we see how Israel threw off God's covering by disobeying Him and turning to idol worship. Finally God was through with them. We read that God "... removed them from His sight... rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers until He had cast them from His sight - 2 Kings 17:18-20.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem, the people who spurned God’s wings of covering with their rejection of His prophets, including the final One—Jesus the Son - Matthew 23:37-39.

He reprimanded the  lukewarm church of Laodicea for their delusions of needing nothing and counseled them to “'… buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich and white garments that you may be clothed that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed…'” - Revelation 3:17,18.

So, how do we put ourselves under God’s covering, under His protection, in His clothes? Revelation 3 continues on with this answer from Jesus Himself.

We invite Him into our lives: “'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me'” - Revelation 3:21.

Then we listen to His voice and follow Him.  Jesus again: "'My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand'" John 10:27,28. 

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to live constantly under Your covering, in Your clothes. Please show me areas where self will, rebellion, laziness, self-deception, impatience, etc. leave me naked and vulnerable. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 105

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.