January 7th, 2021

Today is a free day in our reading. It is a day to catch up, catch your breath or review the notes you have taken over the last six days. We have covered a LOT of ground, from creation to the tower of Babel, the fall, sin, and the flood to Abram’s call to follow God. But look at you. You have made it one week through the Bible. I knew you could! And if you haven’t started yet jump on board now, right where we are. There is always room for one more.
The picture you see of a train reminds me of the little train that could, saying to himself, I think I can, I think I can. That is where we are. We are moving along, reading the Word of God. It is hope filled, challenging, perplexing, and God’s handprints are all over it. Some days when I read, I have more questions than answers. But I believe we have exactly what God wants us to have in scripture. This is after all, the inspired Word of God. So, we keep moving forward.

As we look at where we have been this week there is a common thread. And that thread is God’s grace. We see it in the Garden of Eden when God makes clothes for Adam and Eve. We see it in the promise of one who will defeat the evil one. We see grace for Adam and Eve in the birth of Seth, a son to replace both Cain and Abel. Early on God shows that He badly wants a relationship with His created people and is willing to go to great lengths to achieve that. How many times He could have started over with new people. We see grace for Noah and his family in the midst of the flood and after. He blesses Noah’s sons and their wives, and they are fruitful and begin to repopulate the earth. Even at the tower of Babel we see grace. Once again, God could have easily destroyed His disobedient people. Instead, He confused their language and scattered them so they could populate many different parts of the earth. And that gave them another chance to build a relationship with Him.  Abram was a pagan when God called him to go to the place God would show him. It was in grace that God called.  And Abram picked up stakes and went. God made mighty promises to Abram, all of which He kept.

That is another thing we see. God keeps His promises, whether we deserve that or not. Over the course of our journey through the Bible we will see God make many promises. And we will see Him keep each one of them. The challenge for God’s people then, and even now, is that God keeps promises on His time schedule, not ours. God promised Abram he would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. Abram was already 75 when God made that promise and Abram was 100 when the promise of one son was fulfilled. God doesn’t put a time limit on the fulfillment of His promises, but we know that He is faithful and true, and we can trust that He will act…when the time is right.

When we look at the story of Noah and his family, we see something else about God. He has a plan for the redemption of His people, and He has already set the genealogical line the plan will come through. So, God will not completely destroy His people. That means if God does pronounce judgement on His people there will always be a remnant left.  We read that there were many people on earth, and all of them had fallen away from worshipping God except Noah and His family. He was the only one who had a right relationship with God. It was Noah and his family who were the first remnant of God’s people. Over the course of the Old Testament, we will see other remnants as God’s people alternatively worship Him and ignore Him. In countries around the world today, there are places where it is illegal to be a Christian. But in each of those countries we have seen a remnant that has kept the faith alive. These believers have been creative in their places of worship, the times they worship and how they read or memorize scripture.

God always makes a way! As you read be on the lookout for some of these things…God’s grace in unlikely places, remnants, and God keeping His promises. And remember, we don’t just see God’s handprints all over scripture. When we look backwards, we will see them all over our lives as well. God is good all the time. And all the time God is Good.

In His Grip
Pastor Matt W