God Keeps God’s Promises – Genesis 9

A text – Genesis 9:8-17

9:8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
9:9 “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,
9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.
9:11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
9:12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:
9:13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
9:14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,
9:15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
9:16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
9:17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

A reflection:

The Book of Genesis contains covenants made by God with human beings. The one in this story follows the flood that God used to wipe all the life off the earth except for the creatures God helped Noah take aboard the ark: 2 of every species of wild animal and domestic animals, and Noah and his wife and their three sons and their wives.

The covenant is stated and restated in these 10 verses. It says that God will never again kill off all of God’s creatures with a flood. And the proof of this covenant, the sign for all to see, is the rainbow. Whenever clouds gather and a rainbow is seen, God will remember this covenant and will prevent rain from wiping out all creatures on the planet. God repeats this promise twice, almost three times. God is binding this promise upon God’s self for eternity.

We have this covenant, made between God and the flood survivors (Noah and his clan and the animals), and we have another covenant, made between God and Abraham, recorded in Genesis 15, that the childless and elderly Abraham and his wife Sarah will be the parents of a great nation. In that covenant, too, God binds the promise upon God’s self. Nothing Abraham can do will break it – God has vowed that it will be so, no matter what.

This is a strange kind of God we have, nothing at all like the gods of Egypt or Greece or Babylon. This is a God who changes direction, thinks better of a solution, wants to prove promises can be kept to the humans that God loves so much. God is willing to give up power in order to save a person and help him or her flourish. This is a God who sets aside glory in order to lift up and serve human beings. Is it any wonder that this covenant-making God comes to live a complete human life in the form of a carpenter from Nazareth?  To preach love and to heal the sick who live at the margins of life?  God is as good as God’s Word. God keeps God’s promises.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for making covenants and keeping them so that we can see that you are faithful. Help us to live that same trustworthiness to every neighbor we have. Help us to keep our promises, no matter what.  Amen.