#Gof'sCommand

[eternalfaithinhislove]

c u r s e s into b l e s s i n g s

After man sinned, God punished. For many years. But God gave (and still gives) us chance after chance to turn away from our sin. But when we take a look at Genesis 6, we see a change—we went too far and God’s punishment increased to the point that He regretted the very beings He chose to create.

“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” (Genesis 6:5-8)

Noah found favor with God… How?

By being good.

“Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” (Genesis 6:9)

He walked with the Lord. He did what God wanted—what was right; he obeyed Him. Because of this God warns Noah in advance and tells him the exact punishment that’s coming and He tells Noah how he can escape. In fact, He instructs Noah not only to escape with his family but He tells Noah to take a male and female from every kind of living creature. Why? Because He was going to renew the earth.

So, then God sent the great flood that lasted forty days. Everything was washed away, except what and who were on Noah’s ark—which God had told him just how to make it and what and who to take with him on it. Then watch what He tells us in Genesis…

“But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded” (Genesis 8:1)!!!

God remembers us! No matter how bad things get God remembers us!

Then God promised Noah to never again send punishment like this flood that would take everything away.

“I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. 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: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 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. 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.’ So God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.’” (Genesis 9:11-17)

God is often in the business of renewing things when they’ve gone wrong—us and the world around us. Just look at what He says at the beginning and watch what He says right after the flood as He promises Noah he won’t do that again…

“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28)

“Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.” (Genesis 9:1)

He eternally finds ways to renew us until we return to Him in Heaven—which the only way to make it there is Jesus. He who came to renew us Himself!

The point is God turns bad to good!

Paul says it like this in Romans 28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

A really cool Old Testament story that’s an example of God turning bad things good is when God turned Balak’s curses on Israel into blessings.

Balak brought Balaam to pay him to curse Israel but he vowed to only say what God told him too.

“But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.” (Numbers 22:12)

But then Balaam goes and God sent His Angel to oppose Balaam—yet He doesn’t stop him but rather opens his eyes. Balaam continued on to Balak but only said what God told Him to. So, he blessed Israel rather than cursing it. Balak then thinks if he takes Balaam to see Israel from a different angel maybe then God would tell him something different.

“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.” (Numbers 23:19-20)

In Balak’s frustration, he takes back what he said about paying Balaam for his word. I love his answer:

“Balaam answered Balak, ‘Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, ‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord—and I must say only what the Lord says’”? (Numbers 24:12-13)

Listen to God’s Word and speak and live by it. Nothing more, nothing less.

God will always change bad to good.