A covering keeps one protected from cold, heat, weather, danger, and enemies.
We put on clothes according to the weather and the temperature inside and outside. Sometimes it is so hot outside that we dress appropriately, only to find that the restaurant is so air-conditioned that we wish we had some more covering while we ate our meal. We have to hurry back outside to get warm again.
When it is sub-zero outside, then we find the opposite. We have to add layers to keep warm outside for protection, but have to shed those layers when we come back inside to keep from becoming too warm. Just like Goldilocks, we are always searching for that perfect bowl of porridge, ‘just right’.
We realize more and more how important the coverings of our houses are as we see the morals and ethics of our society deteriorate around us, and as the pattern for violent weather increases from year to year. We are thankful for a nice, safe and secure place to return to at the end of each day, where we can relax and enjoy our families while we escape the cares of this life, knowing that the weather and the criminal minded people can’t enter our little havens of rest.
The warmth of a fire and the protection of a shelter have been necessary since the fall of Adam from the Garden of Eden. Man has progressed over the years in his ability to provide the ‘just right’ shelter or covering, physically. Today’s world is filled with many comforting coverings, but we haven’t reached what Adam and Eve had inside the Garden of Eden.
Adam and Eve lived in the perfect biodome. The temperature was ‘just right’ every day, every minute. They didn’t have to change clothes depending on the weather. It never rained or snowed; and there were never any wind storms or destructive forces of nature to worry about. The animal kingdom was at peace with them. The plant kingdom didn’t resist them with thorns and weeds. They didn’t have to lock their doors to protect themselves. God was their covering!
What is the covering of God?
The covering of God is fire and light.
Psalm 104:2 “Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.”
Isaiah 6:1-3 “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
The Hebrew word for Seraphim means ‘burning ones’, giving us a picture of God being surrounded by fire and light. This agrees with Hebrews 12:29, “for our God is a consuming fire.” and with I Timothy 6:16, “He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen.”
Hebrews 1:7, “Regarding the angels, he says, “He sends his angels like the winds, his servants like flames of fire.”
When God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, He appeared to him in flaming fire as a burning bush. (Exodus 3:2) There are many other examples of God and His angels as fire and light in the Scriptures.
Understanding that God dwells in a light that no mortal man can approach unto helps explain why Adam and Eve dwelt so securely in the Garden of Eden without fear or danger, in total comfort, and without awareness of their being naked. God’s Presence, which is fire and light, and His angels, which are spirits or winds of fire, surrounded them inside the garden. God clothed them with His light and Glory, and His angels kept everything outside the garden from entering into the garden. His Glory was their clothing. Paul teaches us that as believers we shall be clothed with a glorified body like the Lords. (I Corinthians 15:49)
Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.”
Psalm 91:11, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”
When God covers us with His Spirit and commands His angels to constantly encamp around about us by day and by night, then we have complete assurance that we can relax in Him, knowing that He will supply our every need, as well as keeping us safe and secure from all that would defile and harm us.
The only thing He asks in return is love and obedience. Adam and Eve could not partake of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If they ate of this tree, they would die physically and spiritually and lose fellowship with their Creator. They soon learned this when they found themselves outside the garden, fighting the weeds, clothed with animal skins, and afraid of the Cherubim guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden.
Jesus gives us the same teaching as His Father in John 15:10, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
So God will provide what man has always sought, security from danger and harm while living in a comfortable environment; if we will only love Him in return by obeying His teachings.
I John 5:3, “Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.”
I encourage you to ask Him to make Himself real to you through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Spend some time with Him in prayer and reading His Word. Draw nigh to Him and He will draw nigh to you. Ask Him to forgive your rebellious and sinful ways. Receive His free gift of salvation and sanctification. Make a commitment to obey and keep His teachings. Then relax in Him, knowing that all the things that we need for this life will be supplied by seeking first His kingdom and righteousness, or living right before Him; and that no one, nor anything, can harm us as long as we stay inside the garden of His Presence of fire and light; knowing that He has commanded His angels to keep us safe by night and by day.