DEVOTIONS

Monday, January 2 – “But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife and your son’s wives with you.” (Genesis 6:18) A covenant is an agreement between two parties.  I will do this and you will do that.  God will spare Noah, his family and two of every kind of animal, from the flood that will destroy the world.  If Noah builds an ark.  Pretty easy decision, right?  Well, a covenant requires faith.  Faith in the one into which you are covenanting.  And faith in yourself to carry out your end of the bargain.   

Tuesday, January 3 – “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8:22) When God made a covenant with Noah he committed to a future of a less than perfect world.  The flood didn’t end the possibility of evil.  The evil that was in the hearts of humans, pre-flood, still existed post-flood.  God will never take away your free will.  God will always take the route of suffering, relative to sin and evil.  For what is heat without cold?  What is light without darkness?  What is summer without winter?  And what is seedtime without harvest? 

Wednesday, January 4 – “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) We see the nature of God’s love in the story of Noah.  For God so loved the world that he preserved a remnant, when all deserved destruction.  For God so loved the world that he still allows you to make your own decisions, regarding what you will believe and who you will follow.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.  That whoever believes in him will have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.  The nature of God’s love is choice.  For there is power in what you choose to believe.  A power that would never exist, devoid of choice. 

Thursday, January 5 – “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7) God didn’t just make you alive.  God made you living.  The only way that your life can be truly lived is in the realm of choice.  Take choice away and your life cannot be lived.  For living is about learning and growing.  Living is about exploring and discovering.  Living is about being.  God has made a covenant with you.  God has made you a living being.  Your part of the deal is to go out and be the living being that God has created you to be.

Friday, January 6 – “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’” (Genesis 11:4) God destroyed the whole earth with a flood, because of the evil that was found in human hearts.  Well, The Tower of Babel is a post-flood story.  Just a few generations passed the flood and we are again right back to our old, evil ways.  This time, keeping his covenant, God didn’t destroy the world with a flood.  God spread humanity all over the earth and confused their languages. 

Saturday, January 7 – “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’” (Genesis 12:1) After the flood.  After The Tower of Babel.  We find God’s covenant with Abram.  Once again, just like with Noah, God is setting one family apart from the world.  God’s goal?  To once again offer people an opportunity to get right with him.  No flood this time, for God made a covenant with Noah.  This time, God uses the lineage of a faithful man named Abram.  Living faithful to God is the goal.  Not living in the fear of God’s punishment.