Where is the love?

You know that thing that you can tease your siblings all you want, but when someone else does it, your claws come out? Isn’t it beautiful how we instinctively protect each other in a family. You don’t even think about it, you just know it’s your job to look out for them, younger or older, whether they’re right or wrong, at fault or not, you’re still got their back, dark or blue. Well, the same should be said for God’s family, the same principal should apply amongst sisters and brothers in Christ.

It always gets to me how God reacted to Adam and Eve’s mistake. Those two didn’t even understand the depth of the mistake they made, but God did and understanding it He could of just let all of His wrath loose on them and leave it there. But he didn’t. Yes He dished out the consequences of their sin, and yes He did banish them from the garden, but look what He also did.
“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21
I was exploring the issuing of covering in the Bible not too long ago and I found that for the Hebrew verb ‘to cover’ there are a lot of English meanings; among them are: closed, clothed, conceal, hide, hidden, engulfed, overwhelm, forgive, protect, keep. So God here covered them. He did not ignore their sin, He didn’t condone it either, but even after giving out the judgement for it, He still protected them, He covered them, just like a father does.

Another story I am reminded of is that of Noah a few pages later.
“Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father’s nakedness.” Genesis 9:20-23
In this story, the roles are reversed, this time it’s the children who get to cover their father. Important thing to understand here is that, firstly, Noah didn’t drink from his vineyard with the intention to get drunk; secondly, Noah was in his tent when it went down. This means only those close to him, his family, would have the opportunity to be exposed to his nakedness, which is what happened. But Ham faulted, instead of protecting his dad, he exposed him further, lucky enough, it was to his brothers who had a better understanding. They came in, making sure not to see their dad’s nakedness, and covered him, clothed him, protected him.

This call and duty flows directly from love. 1 Peter 4:8 which is similar to Proverbs 10:12 says “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
This cover speaks more of forgiveness, like how God forgave sins through blood that covered them in the OT. But here I want to establish the link between covering and love. You will not protect someone you don’t love, you just can’t; the ability to cover is birthed by love. But we are too busy judging and criticizing others to love them, too busy being self-righteous to even mention their names in prayer, hiding them from the enemy. Where is the love, my brothers and sisters?