UNDER THE COVER.
It was a typical, tropical, rainy day in Java as our children looked across the road expecting to play with their friends.
‘Be careful not to get wet,’ I called , as the rain poured down.
With Correspondence School lessons completed, the children usually closed their books, stacked them away, and ran across the road to their Indonesian friends, Mardi and Untung. On dry days Judith played with Ripkah and Hartati , and other girls in the village that surrounded our home.
The boys always played ball with John. When we first arrived in the village, John brought out his Australian Rules football. But Untung said, ‘That’s not the proper ball. You should have a round one.’ So John had fun with the boys showing them how to play football.
‘No,’ said Selamet. ‘That’s wrong. I’ll show you how to play,’ and he ran in to get his almost worn-out soccer ball. His mother was too poor to buy another one, so Selamet was glad to kick John’s football, although he always said, ‘Your ball is the wrong shape. It should be round like mine.’
But on rainy days like this, the children stood by our door waiting for the rain to stop. Usually one or two Indonesian friends came and waited with them, and I heard them chatter away in the Indonesian language, helping our family to learn their mother tongue.
But now as they waited, the children watched some of their friends walking in a line at the side of the road , five of them. Despite the heavy rain, not one of them seemed wet. Untung, Selamet, Sukrisno, Mardi and Gosnardi, Gosnardi walked in front as the leader ,with Untung, Sukrisno, and Mardi in the centre, and Selamet at the rear.
Nothing bothered them, least of all the rain. They were dry, and laughing as they walked along the road.
What protected them? No umbrella, raincoat , or rug. In front, Gosnadi held the pointed end – and at the rear, Selamet held the thick stalk of …………….a huge, wide banana leaf, large enough to cover the boys. They marched along the road with a perfect covering over their heads and bodies, despite the rain.
That was not the only time they walked beneath a banana leaf. One afternoon when they came to the Bible Club, held in our garage, it rained and several walked along sheltering in the safety of a huge banana leaf, safe and dry. Not one intended missing that time to hear the bible stories, and learn more about Jesus.
This day we told them about the children of Israel who were ill-treated by the Egyptians. God loved them and prepared something to protect them from their enemies. A special covering.
Not a banana leaf. A covering quite different. God spoke to Moses that he must tell the fathers of Israel to find a perfect lamb, without any bruises and wounds, and the fittest of the flock. After 4 days the father killed the lamb, and gathered its blood in a pot. Then with a bunch of the desert plant hyssop, he brushed the blood on the sides of the doorposts, and across the top of the door. Never on the doorstep to tread on it. And whoever slept that night would be safe when God hovered over a house, and saw the homes where the Israelite families trusted Him as shown by the presence of the blood.
As the banana leaf covered the boys from the rain, so the sign of the Lamb’s blood kept the Israelite homes safe from disaster. Because the Egyptian homes lacked the blood sign, sadly their eldest son, and even their animals, died. If only they had obeyed God’s instructions, they could have been protected.
We trust in the Lord Jesus, as the Lamb of God, as He shed His blood when He died to pay the price for our sins on the cross. So He covers us with His safety, and forgives us for our sin. Sin is anything that saddens God, especially rebellion. When we know what is right, and disobey, that is sin.
Confess your sin to God, and thank the Lord Jesus Christ for covering your life like a protective garment. The Bible calls this a ‘robe of righteousness’. That means that God looks at us, because Jesus died for us, and covered our sins, so they are forgiven and not remembered.
Read 1 John 1:9 . ‘If we confess our sin, God is kind and gracious to forgive us our sin, and make us clean from all that is wrong.’
Thank God that He has covered you with Jesus’ love and salvation.