Covered

On March 27, 2021, The Newnan Times-Herald reported what happened shortly after midnight at 92 Greenville Street, in our west-central Georgia town:

Brandon Hand was watching TV when he heard the tornado alert on his phone. He rounded up his family and immediately convened in the basement where he recalled watching flashes of green light from the exploding transformers nearby. Suddenly, he recalled the sound of “things ripping away” from his home, then he laid over his wife and twin daughters. “Then there was the ‘boom’ from our chimney falling through our kitchen and then into the basement where we were,” Hand said.

The morning light revealed the devastation from the EF4 tornado, the night before: destroyed homes, downed trees, and disrupted lives, but Brandon Hand’s family was safe. Why? Because he covered them with his body.

That is what God does for us. He shelters us. Like a bird covers her chicks during an imposing threat, God protects us from impending doom (Psalm 91:4).

40 years ago, Secret Service agent, Tim McCarthy, was shot, shielding President Ronald Reagan from a March 30, 1981, assassination attempt by John Hinkley Jr. Reagan had left a hotel after making a speech and was walking toward his limousine when Hinckley stepped from the crowd and aimed a .22-caliber pistol at him.

McCarthy stood in the path of the bullet, covering the president with his body. He took the round intended for Reagan in his own chest. The agent was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but he survived his wound.

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). That is what Jesus did for us. “(He) bore our sins in His own body on the tree…” (1  Peter 2:24). The blood Jesus shed on the cross covers us.

God told Noah: “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch” (Genesis 6:14). The Hebrew word for “pitch” is “kapar” which means “atonement”. The pitch Noah painted on the ark sealed it from the judgement waters.

Jesus atones for us with His shed blood, saving us from the coming judgement. The Lord’s blood covers us just like Noah’s ark was “covered” with pitch. Are you covered by God? If you are not, by faith (Hebrews 11:7), come “under His wings and you shall take refuge” (Psalm 91:4). He will save you, today.