Covering

"Oh, no! I forgot my Bible," I said, looking down on my lap in the car.  "And I had it laid out to bring!" I lamented. We were on the way to church, hurrying to get to a 9:00 o'clock Sunday School class.  Oh well, I thought, Pastor has the scriptures on the screen, anyway.  But I knew I would need it in class.

Just then I heard a scraping noise, like ice or snow sliding off our car, but this was a warm, May morning. I had heard that sound once before, when I had left my purse on top of the car. Then an unwelcome thought surfaced.  In my haste, was it was possible I had put my Bible there when opening the car door?

"Turn around and go back to see!" I implored my husband.  There was no traffic on the lightly-traveled street, so he backed up slowly.  All I could see after backing several yards was a discarded water bottle. "Did you leave a bottle of water on top of the car?" I asked Howard.  He hadn't, so I urged him to go back a little farther.

Then I spied something black lying in the gutter.  "I think I see it!" I burst out. A minute later, I scooped up my Bible!  Thankfully, it had a cover on it and wasn't damaged at all.  I cringed to think what it would have looked like unprotected by the heavy material--cover probably ripped off and pages tattered and blowing in the wind.

"Well, I guess we were covered by the Word," I quipped, about riding along with the Bible on the roof.  But I got to thinking of how the Lord protects us.  We often pray for a covering of angels when we set out for a trip, not only for us, but for loved ones who may be traveling. "He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways," we might quote from Psalm 91:11.

Not that we all don't encounter some bumps and bruises in life, but David writes encouraging words for the believer as contrasted with the wicked in Psalm  37.  He writes in verse 23, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. (24), Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand."

I have heard that preached to mean if we make mistakes in life and fall, we should not be discouraged and depressed forever, knowing that the Lord holds us up.  I also believe it could mean physical protection.

We had a friend in Mississippi who had a motorcycle.  One beautiful morning he was going out the door to take a ride and reached for a light jacket.  For some reason he selected a heavy, leather coat, even though it was summer. A few miles down the country road he hit a patch of gravel, lost control and wrecked the bike. He would have been severely scraped and scratched up if he had not been wearing the heavy coat, but he had no serious injuries!  God had him covered!