Covered

Dear Faith Family,

You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins, (Psalm 85:2)!  

It really is amazing what a few inches of snow can accomplish, isn’t it?  From the dormant brown grass, to the leafless trees, to the imperfect boarders corralling the flowers and shrubbery, to the cracks in the driveway, to the shingles darkened with age, and even to the mailbox in need of a new coat of paint – a few inches of snow completely changes the landscape. 

Suddenly everything’s different.  The yard becomes a beautiful shade of glimmering white.  The limbs on the trees are no longer empty but covered beautifully.  The boarders become a flowing accent, perfectly contoured.  What cracks in the driveway?!  The shingles?  They sparkle like new.  And the mailbox?  It has a new coat of paint, bright white. 

The first three verses of Psalm 85 take us on a stroll down memory lane.  The sons of Korah were looking at pictures of the snow covered past – how God covered their sin.  Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool, (Isaiah 1:18). 

How is that even possible that the holy, holy, holy God would cover our sin?!  One Word answer: Jesus!  In Christ, His blood covers our sin.  Nellie Edwards penned the words of a hymn: “Covered by the Blood.”  Say the words of the refrain out loud (sing the words if you know the hymn):  

They are covered by the blood; 

They are covered by the blood; 

My sins are all covered by the blood. 

Mine iniquities so vast 

Have been blotted out at last, 

My sins are all covered by the blood.

Let that sink in (that means stop reading for a moment and realize that in Christ all your sin has been covered by the blood of Jesus!  All of it!).  Horatio Spafford put it like this: 

My sin – oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! – 

My sin, not in part but the whole, 

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, 

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! 

It is well,

Pastor Karl