Love Covers Sin – Take Care What You Share!

Genesis 9:22-23
“And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father (Noah) and told his two brothers outside. But Sham and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.”

Noah drinks to drunkenness and is lying in his tent naked. Sounds like Noah, the man who walked with God, was having a fleshly moment. (No pun intended). God allows Ham, Noah’s youngest son, to witness the sin of his father. Ham then goes and tells his brothers of their father’s sin. STOP! Did you catch that? If we read on in the text, we find that sharing this information with his brothers causes Ham to lose the blessing of his inheritance for his son, Canaan. Wait a minute, how fair is that? He might have told his brothers about their father because he wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. Or maybe he told his brothers so they could pray for their father regarding this issue. After all, isn’t that why we tell one another about the sins we see in others…so we can pray for them?

 

A Divine Revelation

I recently had my daughter exhort me on this very matter. She called me on the carpet for sharing details of her wrongful behavior with a friend of mine. My response was those exact justifications stated above. Well, God didn’t allow me to get away with it either. In fact, He used my daughter to set an example for me of how I am to deal with the sins I see in others. My daughter told me that there are only two places she takes her concerns to when she observes the sins of another, her pillow and God. Both are trustworthy and both can bear the burden of someone’s sin without telling anyone else and shaming that person’s reputation. Such wisdom from the mouth of babes.

God is truly the only one that can convict someone of their sin and change their heart regarding that sin. He also is the only one who can help us handle the sin we see in others with wisdom and without gossip. When it comes to prayer, Jesus knows far better than we do how to pray for those struggling with sin. So, this pretty much throws all of our fear/doubt and group prayer justifications for entertaining gossip under the bus where they belong.

Sadly, parents like me, too often share the exploits of our children with others without thinking about how that affects our kids. Although the example of Ham is the other way around with him telling his brothers about his father’s sin. No matter how we look at it, Ham was guilty of gossip and so are we. The cost of his actions affected, not just him, but those for generations to come. 

A Divine Challenge

James 3:6 says, “The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.” God use this Scripture to exhort me greatly that the course of my life and that of my family can severely be affected by the sins of my tongue. He also helped me understand that there are only three reasons I’m allowed to observe someone’s sin and that is first, to mirror my own “he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Secondly, it is for me to take it to God in prayer (not others) and lastly, to set boundaries for myself that keep me from committing the same sin or fueling the sin I am seeing in someone else. The only person I am supposed to share it with besides God is the person I’m seeing it in, and only after I have checked my own heart, prayed, and can exhort that person in gentleness and love regarding that sin.

Call to Action

Let the example of Ham exhort you to consider carefully what you share with others. May we be more like that of Shem and Japheth and love others with a “love that covers a multitude of sin.”

Father, too many times our idle words to others take on the form of gossip regarding things we see around us. Worldly influences and social media bring the lives and the sins of others across our purview daily and what we say about others in the way of judgment or criticism is also sin. Lord, help us drop our stones and live by the motto, “There by the grace of God go I”. When we do address sin in someone, may we do it in gentleness and humility with that person or take it to God and no one else. Then we can be reconciled to one another in a bond of unity and peace! In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen!