Outrun the What?

“Outrun the rays”!  It’s a phrase I noticed on a billboard.  I think it’s a public service type campaign.  The intent, I assume, is to get people out of the harmful rays of the sun that can cause things like skin cancer.  But you really can’t outrun the rays, they travel at about 186,282 miles per second!

Yet the campaign has a certain appeal to it.  “Outrun” sounds a lot like a competition and maybe it gets the competitive juices going for some.  Yet, try as you may, you still can’t outrun the rays, but you can implement strategies to avoid them.  And most of those strategies have a simple foundational aspect to them; you avoid the rays by finding some type of covering.

Strategies for covering up from the rays include being in shaded areas, putting on clothing that blocks the rays or putting on sun screen.

While the sun’s rays can certainly cause significant physical harm and cover is essential to combat that, there are also areas of our lives where significant harm can occur and covering is also needed.

Psalm 38:3-4 says this about harm that can come from something called sin:  “My whole body is sick because of your judgment; I am deprived of health because of my sin. For my sins overwhelm me; like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.”

Sin is a transgression of the law of God and rebellion against God. But the good news is that our sins can be covered:

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” (Ps 32:10)

“You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins.” (Ps 85:2)

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.”  (Rom 4:7)

Gills’ Exposition of the Entire Bible puts it this way:  “their sins are covered, from the eye of divine justice, and shall never be seen more, or be brought against them to their condemnation…”

We can’t outrun our sins but they can be covered so that so that they are never seen again!