Missions Paul

It seems almost heresy to talk negatively about Abraham, the father of the world’s three largest religions. But I say only ‘almost’, as he wasn’t Jesus!

Here is the whole 12^th chapter. Tomorrow, we will delve deeper, but today, it is an overview.

“The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. ² “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” ⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. ⁶ Abram travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. ¹¹ As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but will let you live. ¹³ Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” ¹⁴ When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a wonderful woman. ¹⁵ And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. ¹⁶ He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. ¹⁷ But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife, Sarai. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” ²⁰ Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.” (Genesis 12)

So here’s the birds-eye view of this chapter.

God calls Abram. Abram leaves and surrenders everything.

God grants Abram a vision of what is to come. Abram responds and does, “as the Lord had told him.”

God appears to Abram upon his arrival in Canaan.

Abram responds by building his first altar of worship.

Then God is silent, and though Abram builds another altar and calls on God, he receives no answer.

God hadn’t revoked His promise or His presence—but Abram acted as if He had. The famine was real and severe, but Abram’s response bypassed faith entirely. No inquiry. No altar. No “calling on the name of the LORD” as he had done before.

When God is silent, when there is no calling from heaven, no vision and no presence, the temptation can be to do what Abram did and to take matters into our own hands.

• A severe famine in Canaan was not on Abram’s agenda. Without calling on God, he decided to go to Egypt.
• Approaching Egypt, he begins to fear for his life. Without calling on God, he makes a plan: to lie.

When God is silent, we can assume we are on our own; we can then protect ourselves through our own wisdom, and we are in danger of compromise even if we think it is just a one-time experience. But of course, silence is the moment to hold on to God and not let go.

The next time God is silent, try this: don’t take matters into your hands, but stay on course and stay in the truth.

You may not know what tomorrow will bring, but you are content to move forward into it, knowing that He who has the details will show you when it is needed. That wasn’t true for a man called Terah.

“This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸ While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive. ³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there. ³² Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran. The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. ² “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” ⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. (Genesis 11 v 32- 12 v 5)

Terah has been experiencing grief. His brother, Haran, had died in the family homeland of Ur. Sarai, his wife, was unable to conceive. The whole family had begun a journey to a better place to live, but upon arriving in Harran, they settled there and did not move on. Here, his father, Terah, dies.

Grief and disappointment can be catalysts to move, but also to be unable to move anymore. How many times do we sadly hear a family say after an inquest to some reporter, ‘we request you leave us alone so we can move on’, or who are battling for justice after decades, saying, ‘we haven’t been able to move on’.

Terah died neither in the place of his origin nor in the place of his dreams. He had let go but had not taken hold. Many leave, but some never arrive.

Strangely and sadly for him, Terah passes through the place of his son’s name, Haran, the son who died. He cannot get past that place. He cannot move on. He had said goodbye to his son before, and now he is stuck and cannot move away again. His grief and loss capture him, and he dies there in Harran.

It is an unfortunate story, all too prevalent today.

We must continue to do all we can to move on from hurt and loss.

It’s not how you start that is important, but did you get to where you started? Was Harran worth it?
Harran proves you did move, you did set out.
Harran is along the way to where you are meant to be.
Harran has many qualities.
Haran is satisfying enough to tempt you to remain in it.
But on your deathbed, you will look into the eyes of your children, and they will know whether you made it or whether you settled.
God still sends. So, wherever you are today, are you feeling the sending of God behind you? Are you moving purposefully? Are you heading in the right direction? Are you still on mission?

Maybe you have failed to set out truly. Like Abraham, for all kinds of reasons, family or otherwise, you settled. You obeyed, but it was a halfway obedience. Looking back, you see you didn’t obey fully. However, today many things may have changed, but you can still do what Abraham did: you can abide by now, you can say YES to God now, and give Him all of your life. You can trust in God. Even if you don’t know all the details, you will not let your grief and loss hold you back any longer. This can be a new day of faith.

We live in a tension between being in the moment and engaging with life, whether that be work, mission and the people we love, and yet realising we haven’t yet arrived. This is only temporary. We are passing through this world.

“This is the account of Terah’s family line.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸ While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.

³² Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.” (Genesis 11 v 27-32)

 Granted, not every dream should be followed nor every journey taken, but the opportunity for Canaan is one not to miss. Canaan, the Old Testament Promised Land, is the shadow of what the New Testament calls the heavenly country, our eternal place.

 Terah took his family to Canaan but settled in Haran.

 Settled is always a good word if that was your destination.

 “I am settled in my new job”

 But if it is meant only to be a stopping-off place, it can become a place of compromise, a place where we give up on the journey, a place of dying dreams.

 What have you settled for that has stopped you from journeying to Canaan?

 A friendship?  Money?  Sin?  Tiredness?  The list goes on.

What makes Haran dangerous is its reasonableness. You can build a life there. You can rationalise staying. “This is good enough,” we tell ourselves, and the voice sounds mature, practical, wise—even as something within us quietly dies.

Our settlements don’t just affect us; they shape the landscape for those who come after us. When we stop short, we normalise stopping short. When we settle, we teach settling. But our determination to press on can also inspire others to refuse lesser destinations.

This world is not our destination; it is a stopping off place. We are journeying through. We are only here for a short time. It was meant to be. So don’t settle. Look ahead. Keep journeying. Keep looking. Expectant. Hopeful. All that you are and all that you do here is for there. Don’t let go. Don’t give up. Don’t settle.

Go on, don’t skip it, read these repetitive phrases.

“This is the account of Shem’s family line.

Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father^[d] of Arphaxad. ¹¹ And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³ And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.^[e]

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵ And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷ And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹ And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. ²¹ And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. ²³ And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵ And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.”  (Genesis 11 v 10-26)

What do we see?

• Repetition.

Life goes on. And it goes very quickly, doesn’t it? Children come, parents age, their offspring then become their age, the cycle of life continues. Most of the names above have a story, of course, but we don’t know what it is. Not everyone becomes famous. Most of us live ordinary lives. But we can either raise the next generation or impact it in various ways, and that’s no small feat.

• Shrinking lifespans.

Look again. Shem lived 600 years; Peleg, 239; and Nahor, 148.

The further we move away from the Garden of Eden story and the intimacy of walking with God, the more death rises up to take away life.

• There are always others known by God, even if we don’t.

Look at how many times we see this phrase: “and had other sons and daughters.”

This genealogy of Shem takes us to Abram, but there are other children and children’s children. Who are these people? We simply don’t know, but God does. Even in this list, there would have been thousands and thousands with no names known to us. But just because we don’t have their names doesn’t mean they are meaningless; they matter to God. The Bible doesn’t tell the story of everyone; it is all part of a particular redemptive story. Just because you are categorised as ‘other sons and daughters’ doesn’t mean you are inferior to God.

• We are not the whole story; we are part of it. Even when the fulfilment of the promise seems far away (this line stops at Abraham but continues to Christ), or our world is divided and fading, and even when our names may be forgotten. Even if no one records our lives, we played our part in that chapter, let’s not look down on where we came from, where we ended up or where we were in the middle of those two positions; let’s embrace the fact we are alive and we are here and today is another day!

You may have only read the following story one way. The story of the Tower of Babel where human pride dominated the building project.

However, if you were to ask the question: what could have happened if the builders had been walking with God? Then the possibilities of what could have happened are interesting. Here are a least three.

• Communication in one language, with one united voice, brings perfect understanding to all people.
• The oneness of a shared vision and real unity, with no division, would have been powerful.
• The audacious ability to dream beyond what is seen with their power of imagination. What could have been next?

All done by spiritual people who walked with God.

Sadly, this wasn’t the case. That was the problem.

“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward,they found a plain in Shinarand settled there. ³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ 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.” ⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” ⁸ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11 v 1-9)

The people wanted to make a name for themselves and build a tower that would reach heaven. It was a task full of pride and arrogance, and it would lead to a constant battle between man’s kingdom and God’s kingdom. But before dismissing that story as evil, think some more. If only those people were sanctified and were walking with God. Can you then imagine what they could do for God’s kingdom? Can you imagine:-

• Through the power of communication (one language).
• Through the power of oneness (unity).
• Through the power of imagination (thinking what could be).

Can you imagine what is possible then?

But they were not sanctified, and so God’s judgment was to divide them. As the world has continued in its pride and arrogance, it has continued to divide, so today there are 7,111 languages spoken, and 23 languages account for half of the world’s population.

So, what is God’s plan? Is it to unite into one language? Wouldn’t that be easier for world evangelisation if everyone spoke English? No. Let’s use that story of division again.

1. God sees the danger of unity as worse than the power of a unified language. Maybe it is because He knows the world cannot be trusted with one language. Maybe it would wipe out the gospel completely and not advance it. When you have seen the power of the gospel in a language you do not know, then you understand that it is more effective in many languages than just one.
2. God can speak every language. The One who divided it is the One who speaks them all and to them all. Christianity isn’t tribal. The gospel is more beautiful when seen through the lens of difference.
3. God had the end result in mind when He divided the earth. He who divided will bring the whole earth together in their divided languages into a united mass of praise to Christ: Revelation 7:9-“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” He had the end result in mind when He divided the earth. This wasn’t Him being reactive. The division of the languages was His plan. Can you imagine this? Gathered around the throne of God, every nation, all tribes, all peoples, all languages; distinct voices, their unique expressions of worship – can you imagine the sound?!

As I turn the page this morning and read Genesis 10, I think of my friend who recently held a party for all his relatives, with 90 in attendance. I don’t think I have anywhere near that number actually alive!

Chapter 10 is one of those chapters we would all skim over. It looks a bit like this:

“This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood. The Japhethites. The sonsof Japheth … The Hamites. The sons of Ham … These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations. The Semites … Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber. The sons of Shem … These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these, the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.” (Genesis 10)

Between these names, there are many other descendants listed.

As in all family trees, we have the good, the bad and the ugly. If you have traced your ancestry, then you know behind each name is a story in itself of faithfulness or failure.

A closer look at chapter 10 reveals names that appear later in the Biblical account.  The Canaanites, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the list from Shem, which becomes the line of Christ, which we see in Luke.

These people, as in our ancestry, can no longer speak; they can no longer defend or accuse; they cannot fix any error or achieve unfulfilled opportunities.

Life is so short, isn’t it? What will they say about you and me?

Will our story have touches of grace and love? Of walking with God?

Today is another day of writing your story that people will be speaking about long after you’re not here. The choices don’t necessarily have to be big ones, but choosing to forgive, showing up when you would rather not, or being patient instead of angry, these become a legacy passed down.

One more thing, you can break the pattern from a previous generation, or you can repeat it.

When Noah was 600 years old and he stepped out of that ark, he could not have imagined what was to come. He did not know the stories of Abraham coming down his generational line. He would never have known about a nation called Israel. Or the written word of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Let’s go further. He would never have imagined a virgin in Nazareth, a cross at Calvary, and an empty tomb three days later! He would not have known the ark was the forerunner of the salvation known through Jesus.

“After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹ Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.” (Genesis 9 v 28-29)

On Friday, 7th November 2025, just a few days ago, a 100-year-old war veteran was being interviewed. Alec Penstone had joined the Royal Navy as a young man, given his life for his country, and survived. Recalling his friends who had lost their lives, with tears in his eyes, he was asked what Remembrance Sunday meant to him. He said that winning the war was ‘not worth’ how the country had turned out today.

Hold that thought.

Noah lived 350 years after the flood.

There is nothing about Noah in these years. He just lived. He just kept going.

I wonder if, when he spoke of the world before the flood, tears came to his eyes as they did to Alec Penstone?

I wonder, as he saw the Tower of Babel being built, did he think the ark was worth it?

He had seen the worst of humanity, the destruction of society, and the moment of reset for the world. What were his thoughts as he saw the decline of the world that God had saved?

One day, the exact five words that are in v29 will be applied to us all, “and then he died.”

He lived a long time, but it still applied to him.

The man who survived the death of the world still died himself.

Here’s another question: how is your life going?

Sometimes walking with God is simply living. In a world that is declining in values. A world that hurts one another. In a world that still hears a gospel of repentance. Thankfully, many are responding to it, and sadly, too many are not.

But we continue to remember what God has done for us and through us.

Three hundred and fifty years of continuing. Thankfully, not that many!

And then … we’re home.

Is it worth it?

Is faithfulness worth it when it costs me everything?
Is obedience worth it when I can’t see the purpose?
Is survival worth it when everyone I loved is gone?
Is continuing worth it when I’m exhausted?

You may not know the complete answer in this lifetime. Many around the world, hanging onto their faith, under cruel persecution, will know, like us, after, “and then he died.”

But oh, the joy of knowing it really was, then!!

So we come to the end of the story of Noah, and we do so with a confusing story that is ambiguous at best. It has caused a millennium of debate.

Here is our righteous, faith-man, walker with God, Noah, drunk and lying naked in his tent. So many questions, few answers, and we end with a curse that would reach down the generations.

If, like me, you may be wondering why it seems that Ham’s sin (whatever that was) was greater than his father’s. It brings confusion very early in the Bible story that we haven’t been able to perfect after all these years. We struggle with many questions, and the main one is: How do we handle the sinner? But let’s read.

“Noah, a man of the soil, proceededto plant a vineyard. ²¹ When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of enslaved people will he be to his brothers.” ²⁶ He also said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. ²⁷ May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.” (Genesis 9 v 20-27)

Noah gets drunk. He wasn’t expecting to, presumably, because he lay naked in his tent.

Then Ham “saw his father naked and told”.

What does this mean? What did Ham do that led to the curse on him and his descendants? Was this simple mockery —laughing at his father in front of his brothers? Was it worse than this? Did Ham violate his father in some way in his tent? Is the problem that Ham saw his father’s sin and did nothing to restore it? (I wonder if Paul was thinking about this when he wrote, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.” (Galatians 6:1)

Something happened. Not the drunkenness, that was obvious, but something hidden behind the text, and even if it was, as it states, that Ham was saying what he saw, his brothers did what he should have done.

Shem and Japheth refuse to participate in their father’s shame. They take a garment, walk in backward, and cover Noah without looking. It’s an act of deliberate, almost exaggerated respect.

Covering shame was sacred; exposing it was worse.

When Noah wakes and hears of what Ham, his son, had done, he curses the sons and the daughters that would come from Ham.

Where is your focus? Noah’s sin or Ham’s disrespect of the sinner?

It is a big question. An uncomfortable one, perhaps.

Noah’s sin is not ignored. It was a sin. But the story is focusing on the other two sons and their response to it.

Perhaps we are just meant to struggle with this story.

Sin is messy. Sorting out the consequences of sin is difficult. Responding to the sinner is always done by the imperfect.

We can be thankful for this disturbing story as we move into the Bible story. We know we will find so many similar stories. What do we know?

1. Even the heroes of our lives fail.
2. Salacious reporting is as wrong as the story itself.
3. What we do today can hurt those who follow us.

Perhaps the gospel is good news to those who are vulnerable, carried by those who treat others as they would want to be treated when they, too, fall into sin.

So they’re all out of the ark, and we’re introduced again to Noah’s sons.

 ^“The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japhet. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.” (Genesis 9 v 18-19)

Can you reread this remarkable statement? God built the world from one family. We trace back to these sons that came out of the ark.

He didn’t create from the dust again. Every tribe and tongue, every culture and ethnicity, is here at least in seed form.

So the mission to go into all the world that Jesus gave to each one of us was, in essence, saying, ‘reach the family’. In every language and skin colour, the image of God would be seen; scattered across the earth, not for division and borders, but to fill the world with the image of God.

So what does this mean for us?

1. The evil atrocities in Gaza or northern Nigeria, in Russia, Ukraine, and the list goes on, and even in the street around the corner from where you live, are with people who carry the same ancestry as those three sons of that man of faith who walked with God, Noah.
2. Every person is made in the image of God, so when we speak ill against someone, killing them with words or actions, we are hurting the image of God in them.
3. If God reached the whole earth eventually through 3 sons, what can He do with you and me? All He needs is your faithfulness to Him.

I wonder how things would be if we treated people like family?

Generally speaking, we don’t give up on family, do we?

Who is that annoying person? Maybe at work or someone who lives nearby. If you saw them as family, what would change? With family, you see them at their worst, but you don’t walk away. You remain committed to them. You don’t demand perfection. You don’t hold them at arm’s length. You give them grace.

Maybe the world is waiting for family.

Maya Angelou’s voice (1928-2014), captured on Coldplay’s album, Moon Music, carries ancient wisdom in her gentle voice. An African American spiritual singer who speaks of rainbows appearing when “it looked like the sun wasn’t gonna’ shine anymore. God put a rainbow in the clouds.” Her words trail off with wonder: “And I’ve had so many rainbows in my clouds. I had a lot of clouds, but I have had so many rainbows.” God is still putting rainbows in the skies.

Has the sun stopped shining on you today? Is that how you describe what has happened to you? Well, wait … it may mark the most significant event of your life. There is a rainbow in the clouds for you.

This could be the start of a new PROMISE from your God.

If God has allowed darkness to settle over your life today, He is orchestrating something seismic. Wait for Him. His work remains unfinished. Your rainbow is forming in the clouds.

“And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” ¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” (Genesis 9 v 12-17)

God could have said, “If man does it again, then they know what is coming again!” But he didn’t. Instead, He painted a rainbow and made a covenant. He chose something that needs both a storm and the sun as a reminder. There are days when we get both, don’t we?

Today, you may wake to your storm clouds gathering; grief and loss are here, and you wonder if you will survive. God has promised you that neither circumstances nor your own behaviour will cause His mercy to protect you. No. But His covenant does.

God keeps His promises.

Remember the rainbow.

What did the Apostle John see on the island of Patmos in his vision (Revelation 4:3)? Trapped on the island, desiring to be free, living at a time of massive oppression from evil Emperors. He sees a rainbow and He remembers the covenant-keeping God.

Between Genesis 9 and Revelation 4 stands another covenant. It is like the rainbow; it has nothing to do with our behaviour or commitment; His grace entirely holds it. It is the new covenant in Christ’s blood; it is the cross.

Your ‘world’ today may not be what you want it to be. You may feel uncertain and wish you were somewhere completely different. You may deserve judgment. You may have experienced floods of anxiety and uncertainty. Look up. There is a covenant in the skies. Don’t marvel at the colours, but at the character of God revealed. He is faithful to His promises. God remembers. If the clouds gather over you today, remember in Him you will not go under, and even if you do, He will raise you.