Jan 14 — Righteousness of Clothing the Naked

Isaiah 58:7c — … When you see the naked, that you cover him,

And not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Well, this can seem pretty straightforward.  It’s even easier outside at -40 degrees to understand that exposed skin needs to be covered.  However, we don’t usually walk around in a -40 environment and what is considered naked has shifted over time.  “Who told you that you were naked?”  That’s God’s question to Adam and Eve.  The question that may need to be asked today is, “Didn’t anyone tell you that you were naked?”  Society’s concept of nakedness  has shifted over time.  In November 2012, San Francisco city council passed a bylaw banning public nudity because it was getting too much even for their residents and business owners.  Helping people cover themselves is much easier when they want to be covered.  We should be donating clothes to clothing banks, like the one we have at the church.  I should be concerned that people adequately clothe themselves.

After sin entered, Adam and Eve covered themselves and then God arranged to cover them.  God even demanded that priests not “go commando” when serving before Him but that they wear linen underwear/trousers.  God gave clear instructions in Leviticus 18 as to not being naked inappropriately.  The Bible even says that God will clothe us when we get to heaven.  The concept of mankind somehow returning to some naked Garden of Eden is an unbiblical one.  There are appropriate and inappropriate levels of exposure between people.  This is not only true about the physical but also on the soulish and spiritual levels.

Nakedness is to be covered.  Shem and Japheth covered Noah’s nakedness without looking.  It says they took a garment and it doesn’t say where they got it from.  They could have taken off something of their own (not getting naked but exposing some of their own flesh) to cover their father with.  We are not to be like Ham, who joked about and uncovered/exposed his father’s nakedness.  How easily do I joke and uncover someone else’s nakedness?  Not necessarily their physical nakedness but aspects of their life that should remain private.  Do I expose others so that I can feel better about myself, or do I cover them so that they can become better?  Will I have enough love for those I meet to cover the nakedness of their sins?  Jesus didn’t expose the woman “caught in the act of adultery” but covered her and gave her the grace to change her life.  Ultimately, Jesus became naked on the Cross so that our nakedness could be completely covered for eternity.

Lord, may I have Your love that covers.  Reveal to me my own nakedness and the ways you cover it.  Help me not to be ashamed of or to shame others for their nakedness but help me to find ways of covering it and bringing healing.  May I care more for others nakedness than I do about inconveniencing myself to cover it.  For those that don’t understand their nakedness, I ask that by Your Spirit you would reveal it to them so that they might be covered.

[Also meditate on: Gen. 9:20-23; Lev. 18:6-18; John 8:1-11; Jas. 5:19-20; 1 Peter 4:7-10; Rev. 3:18, 19:6-8]