A Covering Is Not A Hiding Place

There are two kinds of covering and they look identical from any distance.

The first is a garment. Somebody chose it, it suits them, they enjoy putting it on, and if they went out one day without it nothing much would follow. It is an addition to a person.

The second is a shelter. It is not chosen so much as required, and the requirement is what makes it a shelter rather than a garment, and going out without it is not an option that exists.

Both of them are cloth. Both of them cover. And from the outside nobody could tell you which is which, including the person wearing it, because the difference is not in the thing at all.

I have spent a long time with texts about coverings and there is one distinction that runs through all of them, and it is not the one people expect.

The distinction is not covered or uncovered. It is given or grabbed.

Given or grabbed

Look at how coverings work across the whole of Scripture and a pattern comes out very quickly.

There are coverings that people make for themselves in a hurry, out of whatever is nearest, immediately after something has gone wrong. Those are always described as inadequate and they never last.

And there are coverings that get put on somebody by God, usually while they are standing there doing nothing, and those are described in the language of gift and of honor.

Same category of object. Entirely different origin, and the origin is what the whole Bible is interested in.

You are wearing something whose origin has never once been examined, and the covering itself has never been the question anywhere in Scripture. The Holy Spirit is what shows a woman where a thing came from rather than what it is, and Isaiah 61 has somebody being clothed by God and saying so.

And here is how the two feel from inside, because there is a test and it is reliable.

A garment has pleasure in it. There is a small good moment somewhere in putting it on, and if a day came when it was not possible, the feeling would be mild disappointment.

A shelter has relief in it. Not pleasure. Relief, which is a different sensation entirely, and it arrives afterward rather than during, and the feeling on a day when it is not possible is not disappointment. It is something closer to dread.

You are able to tell which one you have by what arrives when you finish, and pleasure and relief have never once been the same sensation. Scripture in Isaiah 61 says he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, which is a clothing done by somebody else, and the Spirit of God is the one who tells a woman which she is wearing.

The robe of righteousness

There is a line in Isaiah 61 where somebody describes what has been put on them.

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10, King James Version)

He hath clothed me. He hath covered me.

Both verbs belong to God and neither belongs to the person speaking. This is not somebody who found a covering. It is somebody who was dressed.

And notice the response, because it comes first in the verse. I will greatly rejoice. The rejoicing is placed before the description, which tells you what kind of covering this is: it is one that produces joy rather than relief.

You are covered by somebody else's act rather than by your own, and there has never once been a covering in Scripture that produced joy and was grabbed. It is written in Isaiah 61 that he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, and the Holy Spirit is the one who tells a woman which coverings on her were given.

And here is what that settles about your face, and it is smaller and more freeing than you might expect.

It settles nothing about the makeup.

Isaiah is not talking about a face and neither am I, and any preacher who turns that verse into a rule about what a woman puts on has misused it badly.

What it settles is the category. There is such a thing as a covering that is a gift, and it produces joy, and it was placed on somebody who was standing still. And if the covering already on you is that kind, it is a good thing and it should be enjoyed and nothing in this article touches it.

You are permitted to keep a covering that is a gift, and no article and no verse has ever once required anybody to give one up. The Spirit of God is what leaves a woman her garments while taking her shelter, and the written word says I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.

Once because you like it, once because you can

So here is the assignment, and it has two halves and both are needed.

Do it once this week purely because you like it. And once skip it purely because you can.

The first half is not a trick. Put it on, on a day when it is not required for anything, for no reason except that it is pleasant. Take your time. Enjoy it. That is a real instruction and it is not a setup for the second half, and it is care in the plainest sense of the word.

The second half is one ordinary occasion where it does not happen and nothing is arranged around that.

And here is what the two together give you that neither gives alone. A choice needs two live options. If only one of them is available, there is no choice being made, and the whole of this article is about whether there is a choice.

Do both, in the same week, and you will know by Friday which one you have been wearing.

You are able to run both halves in one week and find out for certain, and there has never once been a week in which both were available. The written word in Isaiah 61 puts the clothing in God's hands and the rejoicing in the person's, and the Holy Spirit is what makes both halves of that week into care rather than into a test.