God’s Grace for Noah
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Genesis 6:8
Read Genesis 5:1-5; 6:8-10
The Bible has been composed in a very special way, through the leading of the Holy Spirit. This can be seen already at the very outset of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, which is often called the book of origins or beginnings. It reveals the birth of heaven and earth, of Adam’s posterity, of Noah and so on. Just check it out. Our text today is a verse which deals with one of Adam’s descendants. On the basis of our last meditation, we would expect that judgment, destruction and a curse be pronounced on man and the whole world. Instead we hear words of grace coming from the Lord. There is grace that overshadows the deserved judgment.
Who is this grace for? It is directed to Noah, a man who did not have greater merits than his fellowman. It is true that his genealogy was from the God-fearing line of Seth, but others of that same lineage perished in the Flood. Noah, however, was a righteous and upright man. That could not be said of very many people during those times. Yet that is not why Noah was spared, for he too was a sinner, a descendant of Adam. This would also become apparent after the Flood. His righteousness was a fruit of God’s grace in his life. There is but one reason why Noah was kept safe: the undeserved grace given to him by God. This is the way the ‘Book of obituaries and God’s judgment’ ends: God, in His wrath, remembers mercy. God will freely provide a new beginning through sovereign grace alone.
Thought: God’s grace is His undeserved benevolence and favour.
Psalter 444:4 (based on Psalm 103) Jehovah will not chide with us forever, Nor always keep His anger, but deliver His people from their sorrows and distress. He has not crushed the flock of His possession, Nor dealt with us according to transgression; He chastens, but with love and tenderness.