God took away Adam and Eve’s fig leaves and clothed them himself. He stopped them from covering themselves, and he covered them. This is a physical picture of a spiritual reality. God doesn’t want us to cover our sins. He wants to cover our sins for us. In Psalm 32:1 David wrote, "Blessed are those whose sins are covered." We can't cover our sins. When we try, we fail. We still see our sin. It is always before us. But when we confess our sin, and God covers it, it is hidden from sight, never to be seen again.

Table of contentsOur Flesh Tempts Us to Cover Our SinsCovering Their Nakedness Pictures Them Covering Their ShameThe Word Atone Means "To Cover"God Wants to Cover Our SinsGod Wants to Forgive our TransgressionsGod Doesn’t Want to Count Our Iniquity Against UsGod Doesn’t Want Us Living DeceitfullyWe Can't Cover Our Sins

https://youtu.be/dW0Uplz5hPs
"Blessed are those whose sins are covered" (Psalm 32:1). We can't cover our sins, but when we confess them and repent God covers them for us.

Last Wednesday, January 10th, Charis and Chloe baked cookies, walked around our neighborhood and quickly sold out. Two days later, they wanted to bake and sell more cookies on Friday morning. I knew the big storm was coming, but I told them I would take them around a different neighborhood to support their entrepreneurial efforts.

When we were leaving the house, George wanted to go too. I brought him even though he wasn’t dressed warmly, and it should have occurred to me that he didn’t know how cold it was or what we were doing. As a two-year-old, he saw people leaving the house and didn’t want to miss out. Plus, I thought he might help us sell cookies. Ignore the fact that it was about 20 degrees outside, and he wasn't dressed very warmly.

Things were going well until, actually, things were never going well. It was freezing. People didn’t seem interested in buying cookies. Charis and Chloe were walking down different sides of the street, and they wanted me to stay out of sight. I think everyone who opened the door thought, “What is this little girl doing outside my door all by herself, selling cookies with a National Weather Service warning? Where are her parents? Is that why she’s selling cookies? Is it because her parents don’t care for her, and she needs the money? And is that a little boy with her?”

At one point, a man came out of his house to tell Chloe to bring George home. I quickly ran up to explain the situation. I said, “Well, you see, my girls sold out of cookies the other day, and I told them that if they baked more, I would take them out again. I thought I should keep my word even if the weather is bad. I brought my son along so that Katie could have a break from him because he’s very busy, and we have nine other kids. Yes, I did say nine, so that makes ten total.” Believe it or not, my story didn’t convince him that I wasn't being a foolish father.

And did you know cold weather is hard on car batteries? That was another fun part of the night. I couldn't get the car started when we tried to leave. Fortunately, I had my portable battery charger. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to work.

Katie called to see where we were because she knew we were only a neighborhood over, and it shouldn’t take long to sell eight boxes of cookies. I told her what happened, and she asked, “Do you want me to pick you up in the bus?” This was code for, “I hate my kids being outside when it’s freezing, so let me come pick you up.”

I said, “Well, they aren’t outside. They are inside the car.” Unsurprisingly, that didn’t make her feel better because she knew the heat wasn’t on. After all, the battery was dead. Nothing really gets by Katie.

She said, “Just let me come pick you up.”

I said, “I bought a car battery charger, and now I can learn how to use it.” This also didn’t make Katie feel better because she knows I’m not the handiest with this sort of stuff.

After trying for 5, 10, or 47 minutes,