Day 9 - Grace - Favor in God's Eyes

Genesis 6: 5-8

PAUSE – 

Take a deep breath, offer this time and your focus to the Lord with the Psalmist.

      Search me God, and know my heart;

      Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

      See if there is any offensive way in me, 

     And lead me in the way everlasting.           Psalm 139:23-24

REJOICE in God’s goodness with Psalm 34:4-6

      I sought the Lord, and he answered me, He delivered me from all my fears.

     Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame

     This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;

     He saved him out of all his troubles. 

When I was a senior in high school, I attended a senior skip gathering just a few days before graduation, where many of my classmates were celebrating the culmination of the last four years. As is often the case there was alcohol at this party and because I joined the party late, I was given a tall cup of hard liquor.  This was not my first drink of alcohol, but consuming this amount in a short time resulted in me becoming quite drunk.  

When I returned to school to pick up my books, etc. I was discovered by my tennis coach and turned into the principal (a good friend of my father’s) who called my parents.  I can still feel the shame as my father came into the office (where he entered daily as a respected teacher in the school) to pick me up and take me home. 

There were consequences. I was kicked off the tennis team right before sectionals. I spent my last three days in high school in an “in-school” suspension, and I lost some graduation commendations. However, the most difficult thing was the disappointment and embarrassment I knew my parents were feeling. The greatest cost of sin is always broken relationships.

That night, when my mother had every reason to give less and make me feel guilty for my choices, she fixed my favorite meal – homemade pizza. She extended favor to me as her son on a day when I was not so favorable.  

This was an act of generosity… an act of grace, an unmerited gift based in love.

Read and Reflect on our passage today

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

Wow! “Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Sometimes I look at the news and world events and the behavior of humans and I wonder what God is thinking.  What must it be like for God to see his people, those created in His image, with hearts so depraved? I sometimes wonder what questions my parents had that day when they received the call from the principal.  I’m sure their hearts were grieved.  What must it have been like for God’s heart to be so grieved by creation? (Genesis 6:6) It was a dark time. And yet, in this darkness grace appears. 

The first appearance of the word hen is in Genesis 6 and is most often translated “favor”. 

But Noah found ( hen) “grace” in the eyes of the Lord.

In the darkest hour after creation, when God’s holiness was most shamed and despised by the hearts of humanity, God looked at Noah with grace in his eyes.  Noah was described as a righteous man who walked faithfully with God.  (Genesis 6:9)

Reread this passage aloud again. 

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

Try to imagine the spiritual darkness, the despair, the point of view of the Creator who had previously declared all of his creation to be “very good”.  What word, phrase, or image stands out to you.  Reflect on this picture – then imagine the light in the eyes of God as He envisions grace (favor) over Noah. 

Ask – 

Lord, as I take a few moments and envision dark spaces, faces, and places in our world, I ask you to look with favor on those living in darkness.  I pray that your grace might seep into the hearts of the troubled, the terrified, and those lost in the darkness.   Amen.

Yield – 

Dear Lord, I open my hands as a symbol of my open heart inviting you to “Search my heart to see if there is any offensive way in me.”  I give you my fears, my prejudices, and my dark thoughts as I receive your marvelous, wonderful loving grace.   Amen.

         I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene

         And wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned, unclean.

         How marvelous. How wonderful, and my song shall ever be

         How marvelous. How wonderful is my Savior’s love for me