Are you a Ham?

 

Everyone knows the story of Noah. A recent movie that I watched at the theaters Evan Almighty was based on the story of Noah. Noah, of course, built an ark, put all the animals on it. There was a worldwide flood, the only animal life and human life saved were on the ark. Everyone got off the ark and looked up in the sky and there was a rainbow, end of story.

But as Paul Harvey used to say, here is the rest of the story.

In Genesis chapter 9 it tell s us that after they got off the ark, Noah started a vineyard and grew grapes. He made wine and got drunk on that wine. He was naked and passed out, spread eagle in his open tent. Anyone could see him, not just his wife, sons, and daughters in law, but also by this time (It takes a long time to start a vineyard), his young vulnerable grandchildren.
His son Ham saw that his father was naked and passed out in his tent, so he went and told his brothers Shem and Japheth.
Shem and Japheth however, reacted differently. Instead of going and looking for themselves, they went and got a garment, a covering and laid it across their shoulders and then walked backwards into their father’s tent with the garment and laid it over his naked body.

A Lesson For Today

Over a week ago, a hacker hacked into the files of Planned Parenthood and is threatening to expose all the names and private information of all the employees of that organization. Their motivation is that they want to expose ‘the baby killers’.
I do not believe that is God’s desire for us to expose others perceived sin any more than it was in Ham’s right to report his father’s nakedness to his brothers. I believe that we are to do like Shem and Japheth and cover the nakedness of those we perceive are in sin.
How do we cover someone else’s sin? Telling another person that what they are doing is wrong doesn’t work. It only creates resistance. Instead, we need to let everyone know about the one, the only one who can cover their sins and that is Jesus Christ.
In Romans 6:23 it says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He is our propitiation (substitute-Romans 3:25, I John 2:2 and 4:10) and his is our advocate (in legal terms, defense attorney) with the father. As it says in prophetically in Isaiah 53, “though our sins be as red as blood, he will make us as white as snow”

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A Christian’s responsibility is not in judging another person. Our job is to point them to the one who can cover their sin (no matter what it is) permanently.

Donna Brown is an ordained minister. As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues. Her upcoming book A Coward’s Solace will be available soon. Click here for more information about Cygnet Brown and her books.