God, the Promise Keeper

Photo by Leah Rollins

 

Genesis 6-9

But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. Genesis 6:18

Sometimes we face scary situations, it may be illness, finances, job presentations, all kinds of things. I remember when our youngest was just a baby. We had two older toddlers and I was a stay at home mom. My husband had been laid off and we scraped by on unemployment and odd jobs. His unemployment was just about to run out when he found a job. He was employed just under ninety days. He came home one morning while the kids and I were still curled up in bed. He just stood there at the door of the bedroom. “What’s wrong?”

“They fired me.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t give me a reason. It’s been less than ninety days so they didn’t have to have a reason.”

There we were with no job and no unemployment to drop back on. But just like Noah and his family in the toughest, most scary times, God’s had us in His hand and in His plan. Life didn’t end because of a life changing experience. God had another plan, a better plan for us just like He did for Noah.

And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in. Genesis 7:16

God secures His people even when the world seems to be coming to an end.

And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Genesis 8:20

As we saw God providing for our every NEED we were thankful. Just as Noah and his family were thankful and worshipped God. Their lives had changed but God had them. Just as our lives were about to change. What seemed bad for the moment was about to be for great good.

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9:13

We often see rainbows but have you ever seen one from the top of the mountain? I once was on the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC when a rainbow appeared below us. We could see the perfect circle of the never ending promise of God. Just as husband and wife can look down on their hand and see the perfect circle of their wedding covenant in the bands on their fingers, God sees the perfect circle of His covenant in the sky when the rainbow appears. God gave Noah and his family the task of repopulating the earth with people who would hopefully obey Him, but whether they did or not, He had made a promise to never destroy the earth with water again.

As I said, our lives were facing a major change as well. You see, my husband was not yet a believer, but he soon would be. The crisis we faced for over two years put a strain on our marriage but that covenant circle stayed on our hands and reminded us of our commitment.  When he did come to Christ, it was like the skies parted and the sun shone through. In two weeks he had his old job back with higher pay than when he was laid off. Within six months we were building a nice home large enough to accommodate our growing family. Crisis still come and go. I just have to look up and know God’s got me… us.

Thank you Lord for always being there for us and seeing us through with Your better plan even when we can’t see the end of the tunnel. Increase our faith we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.

Won’t you share how God’s goodness to you is making a difference in your life?