I learned what the Bible means in 1 Corinthians 13 when it says, “love protects.” The Greek word for love in this case is agape—the kind of love only God can give. And the Greek word for protects is stego and means “to cover over in silence.” As soon as I heard this definition, my mind immediately flashed to this story of Noah and his sons.

Did you know, we have an enemy who literally stands before God accusing us day and night, pointing out our shame? (Rev 12:10) Like Ham, he laughs about us: “Look, God…look what your ‘little righteous one’ did! Come check it out. Do you see her shame?” If you try to imagine what you’re being accused of as Satan stands before God, it probably wouldn’t take long to come up with some ideas. Maybe the way you yelled at your kids before school this morning? Maybe the way you treated your husband in a moment of hurry? Maybe the entire cookie sleeve you ate from the pantry five minutes ago? Maybe you feel it’s so much worse than any of those examples and it’s not even in the same universe…abuse? Adultery? Slander? It doesn’t matter. My point is, the voice you have in your head accusing you and insisting you should feel ashamed is real. But our agape loving God already responded to every. single. accusation—both big and small.