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This generation has seen its share of natural and unnatural calamities. Terrorists destroy buildings and lives; planes fall from the sky; evil people have given “hate mail” a new meaning. Periodically, hurricanes “huff, and puff, and blow our East Coast houses down” and earthquakes “shake, rattle, and roll” our West Coast structures. A little closer to home, fires often destroy neighborhood houses, storms leave us in the dark, and auto accidents injure those we know.

Usually, upon finding out that no one was injured in such a time, we immediately ask, “Were they covered?” We are interested in whether victims had insurance; we sympathize more with those who did not. It multiplies the sorrow of misfortune if there is no “starting over” check.

Insurance companies provide a valuable service, and most of us have been wisely counseled by informed agents. They always advise, “Take out ample coverage. You never know when you might need it.” Though we do not like to pay the premiums, most of us realize that the potential benefits are worth the cost of being covered. We often advise our children and grandchildren to take out a policy “just in case.”

There is a spiritual angle to the “insurance business.”

God is in the insurance business

There is a sense in which God is in the insurance business. He promised Moses that He would “cover” him as He passed by (Exodus 33:22), and Moses promised the tribe of Benjamin, “The Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders” (Deuteronomy 33:12).

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler (Psalm 91:3-4).

From His vantage point, God can see an impending disaster worse than any hurricane or earthquake. It will not destroy just one town but the whole earth (2 Peter 3:10). It will not involve only a few thousand people, but all the people of the whole earth (2 Corinthians 5:10). God is providing coverage for those willing to “pay the premiums.” Jesus put it this way:

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:28-33).

Having such coverage helps us “rebuild” in a better place (Hebrews 11:10).

Christians are insurance agents

If God is in the insurance business, then Christians are His agents. We seek to “cover” our friends, relatives, neighbors, coworkers, fellow citizens; actually, all our brothers come down from Adam. Love motivates us. Gratitude sends us.

When Noah was uncovered in his tent, Shem and Japheth took a garment and went backward to cover their father’s shame (Genesis 9:23). They did what love always does—cover the shame of sinners. The Bible teaches us to do just that:

• “Hatred stirreth up strifes; but love covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12).
• “A fool’s wrath is presently known; but a prudent man covereth shame” (Proverbs 12:16).
• “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends” (Proverbs 17:9).
• “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

Love does not sweep sin under the rug. In younger days, our older brothers or buddies from school occasionally pressed us to “cover for them” to keep them from the wrath of parents or teachers. It never worked. The truth came out, and then we looked as bad as they did.

Sin is like a rubber tire—it won’t stay buried (Numbers 32:23; 1 Timothy 5:24-25). So what does it mean that “love covereth all sins”? We cover sins by assisting sinners in getting rid of them. James wrote, “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).

Are you covered?

It does no good to cover one’s sins so that others do not know of them. Children may hide things from their parents; husbands and wives may hide things from each other; and workers may hide things from their employers, but no one hides anything from God (Hebrews 4:13). “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

The only way to cover one’s sins is to have them erased from the mind of God (Hebrews 8:12). For sinners this is done through faith in His Son (John 3:16), repentance—turning from sinful behavior—(Luke 13:3), confession of faith (Romans 10:9-10), and immersion in water to have sins blotted out (Acts 2:38). For erring Christians, sins are covered by repentance, confession, and prayer (Acts 8:22).

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is