Covering
by Angela Weir
As I am writing this, (from Blairmore House, Ellel’s Scottish base), the snow is falling in large, fluffy flakes, covering everything in a thick white blanket. It is very beautiful to look at as the bare branches of the trees are all outlined with white, even the delicate slender twigs at the ends of the branches. It is covering all the muddy ground and filling in all the hollows and dips – “making unevenness even” as the poet, Robert Bridges said.
God has provided covering for us too. He intended that we should be covered by Him and walk sinless before Him, just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden, but after the Fall and before God banned them from Eden, He provided cover for them in the form of animal skins. This covered their sin of disobedience, and was a forerunner, or prophecy, of the cover for the people’s sins provided by the sacrificing of the animals in the Tabernacle and, later, the Temple, which in turn was prophetic of the total covering Jesus was to provide by His once-for-all sacrifice on the cross.
But God has also provided covering for us in other ways. Our parents are supposed to give us covering, our fathers, under Christ, to be our head, and our mothers to show the softer, nurturing aspects of God’s love and protection for us. For very many of us this does not happen. Some may even have experienced violence or abuse at the hands of their fathers, and mothers, which makes them fearful, so it is very hard to trust their heavenly Father.
Our God is totally trustworthy. He will never abuse our trust, nor let us down. He will always be there for us. He is the Rock on which we can truly rely – the Rock which will never be shaken, even though everything around us is shaken. When our earthly covering is not there, He will provide it and will keep us safe.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, At times I feel insecure and anxious. I feel unprotected. May I run to You for cover, and may I know the safety of Your love surrounding me. May I be able to say, with David: ‘For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock’ (Psalm 27: 5). Amen.
Angela Weir has been associated with Ellel Ministries from the very beginning, first as an associate member of the ministry team and later as an associate teacher. She trained as an actress before moving to Cumbria, where she taught drama in a girls’ school. She now teaches and ministers at various Ellel Centres.
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