Cover Up

Joe Wittwer Jan 04, 2010

Scripture: Genesis 9-11, Luke 4

Genesis 9:22-23 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. 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.

Observation:

Ham exposed his father; Shem and Japheth covered their father. When we see others’ faults, we can expose them by telling other people, as Ham did; or we can quietly cover them. It’s not that we do a “cover up”, in the sense of covering wrong or injustice that needs to be exposed and changed. In those cases, wrongs must be addressed and changed. But in personal failures, we can be generous or we can be cruel—we can cover and protect or expose to shame. I certainly want people to be generous with me; I hope others speak well of me rather than spreading stories of my weakness and sin. As always, the Golden Rule works well here: don’t tell things about others that you wouldn’t want said of you!

Application:

Here is a good application in general: don’t needlessly share negative information about another person. There must be a good reason, or don’t do it. Be more prone to protect people’s reputation than to damage it.

Prayer:

Lord, I want people to speak well of me; help me to speak well of others. When sin needs to be exposed, give me courage and wisdom to do it well and graciously. When it needs to be covered, give me wisdom to do that too.