{"id":15573,"date":"2021-05-02T22:00:43","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T05:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_9_1-15-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-05-02T21:03:45","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T04:03:45","slug":"genesis_9_18-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_9_18-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Cover Him Up!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 9:18-29 \u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 9:18-29.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 9:18-21 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 21:\u00a0\u00a0Noah gets drunk and passes out naked inside his tent, apparently in a way that others could see him from the outside.\u00a0\u00a0Keep in mind that during Noah\u2019s time nakedness was associated with shame.\u00a0\u00a0This was an embarrassing moment for Noah.\u00a0 It’s also proof that while Noah may have been found righteous in his generation compared to the people of his time (Genesis 6:9 and Genesis 7:1), Noah wasn\u2019t perfect and needed the covering and protection of God and others.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, the covering that Noah\u2019s sons Shem and Japheth give Noah foreshadows the covering that Jesus would humbly give us by dying on the cross for our sins.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus covers our shame with the garment of His righteousness and love.<\/p>\n

Genesis 9:22-23 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 22-23:\u00a0\u00a0Notice the two very different responses from Noah\u2019s sons Shem and Japheth on one hand and Noah\u2019s third son Ham on the other hand.\u00a0\u00a0When Ham found out embarrassing information about his father, he did nothing except tell others about it.\u00a0\u00a0He exposed his father\u2019s shame all the more (v22).\u00a0\u00a0When Shem and Japheth found out about this same incident, with great humility, walking backwards into his tent so as not to embarrass him more, they covered up their father\u2019s nakedness (v23).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0The different responses from Ham on one hand and Shem and Japheth on the other illustrate for us the difference between a fault finder who gossips and a problem solver who loves.\u00a0\u00a0When you hear embarrassing information about someone else, do you exacerbate the problem by gossiping about it to others and making that person look bad, or do you lovingly protect that person and privately give that person the help they need?\u00a0\u00a0Guess which way God wants us to treat others, including our God-given leaders, especially when they are in their weakest, most vulnerable state?<\/p>\n

Have you ever bad mouthed or gossiped about your God-given leaders or others in your life? If so it\u2019s time to repent and become a problem solver who loves instead of a fault finder who gossips.<\/p>\n

The fact is that all of us, including our God-given leaders, have weaknesses.\u00a0\u00a0We are all sinners in need of God\u2019s mercy.\u00a0\u00a0Whereas the term \u201ccover up\u201d can have a bad connotation in certain contexts, the kind of \u201ccover up\u201d that Shem and Japheth were engaged in was a good, humble and honourable thing to do.\u00a0\u00a0They didn\u2019t deny their leader\u2019s weakness.\u00a0\u00a0They simply refused to dwell on it and make the situation worse than it already was.\u00a0\u00a0They bore with their leader in love.\u00a0\u00a0Thankfully this was an isolated incident that didn\u2019t embarrass or hurt anyone other than Noah himself.\u00a0\u00a0In such a case, it was about Noah\u2019s sons bearing with their father in love and going out of their way to protect him, privately giving him the help he needed.<\/p>\n

Genesis 9:24-27 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him,
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.”
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He also said, “Blessed be the\u00a0LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 24-27:\u00a0\u00a0When Noah finds out what his youngest son Ham had done, Noah curses not Ham but Ham\u2019s son Canaan, saying that he will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers (v25).\u00a0\u00a0In contrast, Noah blesses Japheth and Shem and their \u201cterritory\u201d (v26-27).\u00a0\u00a0Indeed that\u2019s exactly what would happen, as Shem and Japheth\u2019s descendants would end up taking over the territory of Canaan from Ham\u2019s descendants, the Canaanites.\u00a0\u00a0It goes to show that when we are fault finders who gossip instead of problem solvers who love, when we dishonour our God-given leaders rather than honouring and protecting them, the ones who lose out the most are those who come after us, for we are setting for them the wrong example and forfeiting blessings that God would otherwise have given to them.<\/p>\n

Genesis 9:28-29 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After the flood Noah lived 350 years.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 28-29:\u00a0\u00a0Verse 28 reminds me that there is life after the flood.\u00a0\u00a0You may have gone through what feels like a flood of loss and destruction.\u00a0\u00a0Know that the God of hope, Jesus Christ, is still here and He will help you get up and keep on living after the flood has passed.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, whether it is my leaders, my family or anyone else, may I not be a fault finder who gossips like Ham, but a problem solver who loves like Shem and Japheth.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that by Your mercy, power and grace, there is life after the flood.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 9:18-29.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 9:18-21 (NIV)
\n18\u00a0\u00a0The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)
\n19\u00a0\u00a0These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.
\n20\u00a0\u00a0Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
\n21\u00a0\u00a0When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.<\/p>\n

On verse 21:\u00a0\u00a0Noah gets drunk and passes out naked inside his tent, apparently in a way that others could see him from the outside.\u00a0\u00a0Keep in mind that during Noah\u2019s time nakedness was associated with shame.\u00a0\u00a0This was an embarrassing moment for Noah.\u00a0 It’s also proof that while Noah may have been found righteous in his generation compared to the people of his time (Genesis 6:9 and Genesis 7:1), Noah wasn\u2019t perfect and needed the covering and protection of God and others.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, the covering that Noah\u2019s sons Shem and Japheth give Noah foreshadows the covering that Jesus would humbly give us by dying on the cross for our sins.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus covers our shame with the garment of His righteousness and love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15573"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15574,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15573\/revisions\/15574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}