God's Grace And Mercy

Genesis 6:6-9

 6...And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7... And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8... But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9... These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. 

In the beginning, God created man and woman in Genesis chapter 2 because He wanted His crown creation to be with Him forever. God gave them everything Adam and Eve would need for survival and they walked and talked with God during the cool of the day Genesis 3:8. Also in chapter 3, sin enters the garden and causes God to pronounce judgement's on a serpent and His crown creation that created a separation from Him. By the time we get to Genesis 6, God said He repented (saddened or was so disappointed) in man that He decided to wipe man and woman off the face of the earth along with all living things originally created in Genesis 1 & 2.

Think about that, and make it personal in your Spirit with your children. You give them everything they will need for survival in this world, you sacrifice so they will have the things they want so their life will be better than yours. All that is asked in return is for their obedience to your rules. We love them when they don't give us their love and in return you give them chance after chance to do better. Some call it favor or kindness or acceptance. Quite simply it is called grace.

Unmerited favor is what the Bible describes grace as and per our scripture reference above, we find that in the midst of so much sin in the then known world, there was one man who God bestowed this grace on, Noah. There will always be one...in the midst of mayhem, feuding, lawlessness...there is one who decides I am not going to get into that stuff because of a calling of their Spirit to something greater.  That grace was also extended to Noah's children which is quite profound when you consider that Noah's children could have been as sinful as everyone else was. The Bible doesn't say but because of their father's favor or grace from God, they lived. That should make you shout and give God some Glory. 

Because of this grace, God spared the family of Noah and animals two by two to replenished the earth after God's flood destroyed everything. God's grace was bestowed to the children of Israel when they were in bondage in Egypt. Have you ever wondered why these people received this grace. 

In the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy 7:6...For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7...The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8... But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9...Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;...Grace comes to us because of God's love and because of covenants (promises) God made to those who were here before us. 

Name a character in the Bible...Joseph, Jacob, Moses, David, Ruth, Solomon, Isaiah, Job, Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter, Paul, and of course Jesus...they all had God's grace and so do you.

Verse 9 also includes a second part to this grace...mercy which is another characteristic of God. The Bridgeway Bible Dictionary describes mercy this way...This characteristic showed itself clearly in Jesus Christ who, though God, lived in the world as a human being and demonstrated the mercy that God has towards a needy human race...mercy is compassion and we all know Jesus was without question compassionate.

God has to be compassionate because we are wretched creatures with a sin nature. To prove the point, as adorable as a baby is...tell that baby not to do something and you will see him or her trying to figure out a way to do what you have told them not to. We don't like this word but it describes us perfectly...sinful. 

Lamentations 3:22... It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23... They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Grace extended to us in spite of ourselves and mercy because God is compassionate, in fact we have "new mercies" every morning.

Who would not want to serve a God like ours? Too many, that is why it is so imperative for you and I to tell everyone that the Holy Spirit leads us to, that God loves them and because of His grace and mercy, every day that we wake up is one more day He gives us to get it right. 

God Bless You,

Elder Thomas W. Burgess