2011-02-25
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I began writing about the Noahtic Covenant sealed by God’s rainbow in the clouds in GN 6: 17-18 and GN 9: 11-13. We learn that at the beginning, Noah walked with God in GN 6: 9-10, “This is the story of Noah. He had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah had no faults and was the only good man of his time. He lived in fellowship with God but everyone else was evil in God’s sight, and violence had spread everywhere.” This allows us to understand God’s motivation in bringing the flood and saving only Noah, his family, and the pairs of animals on the ark. We get a view into the regret of God’s heart when He makes the promise never to destroy the earth’s population again by flood. Yes, even God wants to give Himself a second chance to create a better mankind. And it is in this story of Noah that the word “covenant” gets used in the Scriptures for the first time.
One other very significant part of this early Genesis story must not be ignored. GN 9: 4-6, “The one thing you must not eat is meat with blood still in it; I forbid this because the life is in the blood [see also LV 17: 11 and HE 9: 22]. If anyone takes human life, he will be punished. I will punish with death any animal that takes a human life. Man was made like God, so whoever murders a man will himself be killed by his fellow man.” Herein we see the very first institution of human government, a kind of code for human behavior. This theme will be elaborated upon by legal minds later on, but it represents the first inkling we have of human government.
In view of writing in earlier devotions about how God obligates Himself to His human creation, we are seeing a specific case of this with Noah. Noah didn’t need to be any different than he was for God to obligate Himself to him. GN 9: 9-11, “I am now making My covenant with you and with your descendants, and with all living being-all birds and all animals-everything that came out of the boat with you. With these words I make My covenant with you: I promise that never again will all living beings be destroyed by a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth.” Thus, we have another promise to add to GN 3: 15 from God. Remember GN 3: 15 is where God tips us off to the entire story of the Scriptures including it’s eventual outcome. “I will make you [referring to the evil serpent] and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite their heel.”
God may forget something for awhile, but not forever. We learn this in GN 9: 12-16, “As a sign of this everlasting covenant which I am making with you and with all living beings, I am putting my bow in the clouds. It will be a sign of My covenant with the world. Whenever I cover the sky with clouds and the rainbow appears, I will remember My promise to you and to all the animals that a flood will never again destroy all living beings. When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between Me and all living beings on earth.”
I can’t resist expressing my belief that the prayers and petitions that we often make to God are one way of drawing His attention to what is uppermost in our minds right then. Our God may need a reminder once in awhile, but He never forgets a promise or doesn’t keep it in His perfect time and way. A great example of this occurs in EX 2: 23-25 later on in the Scriptures, in which God’s chosen people, the Jews, are enslaved in Egypt, and God hears their groans under the weight of their predicament. God remembers His covenant and calls a most unlikely man with a speech impediment, Moses, to lead them out of the desert. PS 111: 4-5, “The Lord does not let us forget His wonderful actions; He is kind and merciful. He provides food for those who have reverence for Him; He never forgets His covenant.” That food can be anything from manna, the physical food like honey seed cakes that fell out of the sky to feed the Jews wandering without other food in the desert to the spiritual sustenance we get from His word and prayer. We can derive great comfort from His words in JER 29: 11-13. “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to bring disaster, plans to give you the future for which you hope. Then you will call to Me, and I will answer You. You will seek Me and you will find Me because you will seek Me with all your heart.” Reread those words right from the Lord’s heart; how can we miss the obvious love in them? And to think, that love is for us, even though we come to His mighty throne so imperfect and undeserving! Any discouragement we feel in the face of suffering we experience is counterbalanced by God’s provision in the keeping of His covenants with us. For an example see His grace in PS 81: 10, “I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth, and I will feed you.” And then, there is PHIL 4 :19, “And with all His abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we are so undeserving of Your grace, and yet, You give it to those who love you and believe in Your Son- so very freely. Grace’s very definition, “unmerited favor,” reveals the generosity of Your compassionate, loving, and patient heart. Because of the original sin in the Garden of Eden, we come before You with glaring imperfections. You love us enough to know that that self-hatred isn’t what You want for us, and neither is guilt. Instead, You ask that we come to You with humility and faith to confess our sins and to cooperate with You in the task of our sanctification. In the course of Your provision for us, You ask us to seriously consider PS 37: 11, “But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing, and shall have wonderful peace.” You remember Your covenant with us when the Holy Spirit prompted the apostle Peter to write, in 1 PET 5: 6-7, “Humble yourselves, then, under God’s mighty hand, so that He will lift you up in His own good time. Leave all your worries with Him, because He cares for you.” At one point, the family of Gracyn Den Besten (10) of Orlando, FL and her family put themselves before You with prayerful pleas for the provision of a new heart for her. You saw fit to provide her with a compatible heart transplant donor in April of ’09 after she had been kept alive on a Berlin pump for quite awhile. Myocarditis, an inflammation of the major heart muscle, had rendered her original heart unable to function. Gracyn’s cardiac surgeon and his team did a masterful job of implanting her donor heart, and today, Gracyn is living a life using the talent for singing that You gave her to sing about you. She also spends some time visiting other children awaiting heart transplant donors. Gracyn knows she will dedicate the rest of her life to serving You. Because of her dad, Kris’, book, Gracyn’s Song [available at www.gracyn.org], the faith of anyone reading her story will be strengthened. This is only one example of Your willingness to provide for those who love You. We are so blessed that You are our God, and we are Your people. We thank and praise You for all You are and all You do. In Christ’s name, Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m led to begin a new segment in this “Our Covenant” series of messages, called “Agape.” This wonderful Greek word helps us to understand God’s kind of love. At the very bottom of the Covenant of Grace, the one in which all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ participate, is this special form of God’s love called agape [pronounced ah-gah-pay]. When I was first considering taking a very different route in my own personal faith-life than most of the members of my traditionally Jewish family, it was a very serious time in my life. My greatest joy had come face to face with my greatest sorrow. I had gone through almost thirty years of living dysfunctional, selfish, and feeling worthless. The teaching and practice of the faith in which I had been raised had rendered me totally ignorant of God’s presence in my life and His love for me. I had been in a patently abusive and unhappy marriage for a number of years. While I had experienced success in my schooling, I was unhappy and unfulfilled in my choice of careers. God had brought me into the pit, so that I might truly appreciate the grace I was about to be given. PS 40 1-2, “I waited patiently for the Lord’s help; then, He listened to me and heart my cry. He pulled me out of a dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a Rock and made me secure.” He brought willingness to take responsibility for my sins and repentance into my life. And then He brought faith in my Lord Yeshua [Jesus Christ] into it-“setting me safely on a Rock.” What greater grace can there be for anyone than the sacrifice Christ made of His life on the cross, so that salvation of people is made possible? [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. He did this for me, and He did it for everyone who will listen to the truth of the Gospel message of salvation and peace! Thanks and praise to Him forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15