18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,“Cursed be Canaan!     The lowest of slaves     will he be to his brothers.”26 He also said,“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!     May Canaan be the slave of Shem. 27 May God extend Japheth’s territory;     may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,     and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.REFLECTIONSWritten by Sam DarmoOh, come on Noah, are you serious – you too? I thought you were a righteous man and someone who obeyed God’s words and faithfully followed His commandments. What happened?What happened is that Noah got drunk and made a fool of himself before his own sons. Instead of being a role model to his own children and leading by example, he got drunk.His youngest son, like the snake in the garden, was going to cause his brothers to stumble, but unlike Adam and Eve, Shem and Japheth didn’t listen to him. Instead, they covered the shame of their beloved father and would not dare to see his nakedness (1 Peter 4:8). Adam and Eve knew they were naked before God and they hid from Him (Gen 3:10), Noah was so drunk he didn’t even realise the stumbling block he had become.Noah’s error revealed the hearts of his own children. How we react in bad situations reveals our hearts too.Like Noah, we all have fallen short of God’s glory. But God in His abundant mercy, grace and love dealt with our sinfulness once and for all time and Has declared us righteous in His sight through His Son Jesus, who covered our nakedness by His own blood (Romans 3:21-26)QUESTIONAre you ever tempted to make someone else feel ashamed – maybe when other people are making fun of them? How can you be a good example for Christ in that situation?ABOUT THE AUTHORSam Darmo is an Assistant Minister with our Assyrian and Arabic churches, as well as our Fairfield English Morning Church.