God's Patience Is Not His Permission

And the LORD was sorry

that He had made

man on the earth, 

and He was grieved

in His heart. 

So the LORD said, 'I will 

destroy man whom I

have created from the

face of the earth,

both man and beast, 

creeping thing and 

birds of the air,

for I am sorry that I

have made them. 

But Noah found grace

in the eyes of the LORD.

Genesis 6:6-8

     There is the most wonderful attribute of God: "Grace."  It is God's grace that anyone will be saved and live eternally.  This world was created by the will of God and all He created is in His control.  God may be graceful, but He will destroy all those that are not doing the will of God.  Man was not only responsible for their own deaths, they were responsible for the deaths of all living things on earth; except; Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD and all the animals that God placed in the ark were saved with man. We are here due to God's grace. We cannot ignore the grace of God for He does give full warning that He will act and destroy all that is displeasing to Him. The ante-flood people were warned that God was not only displeased, but that He was taking action. Rather than listen to Noah the laughed at him as he was making the ark. A boat? Why? There was no rain that ever fell on the earth.  They could not believe in that which they did not understand, or could see for themselves; but God gave full warning to them.  Man had made gods for themselves, became wicked and that their heart was "evil all the time" (Genesis 6:5). God will act again as promised. He is coming to destroy all those that are not of His people, those that do things for themselves and not for Him.  It is doing His will that we are pleasing to Him and by His will we will be saved.  Our world is not so different from the days of Noah, and people are not different from the people of Noah's day.  If God acted then and destroy the then known world, He will do again what He did then and destroy this known world and save those who have found grace in His eyes. One thing different this time!

     Jesus Christ came to die on a cross so that the justice of God would be met.  Sin was destroyed at the cross and now man can not only be saved, sin will no longer be present.  We are now training, so to speak, to live for Him, to allow Him to be the ruler of our lives.  The question for all of us is: are we allowing God to rule our lives?  Or, are we developing theories of God, making rules to follow that would seem godlike?  God is patient, but God will act!  Live for God even though there is derision by those who will not live for Him, though we are ridiculed, persecuted, and God will have mercy upon you as He did Noah.  God has made a covenant with His people as He did Noah: "But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark--you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you" (Genesis 6:18). Jesus Christ prayed to the Father declaring that He had finished the work that He was sent to do and this He did for all that God had given to Him, those that were God' chosen people for Jesus did not come to those who were not of God's chosen, rather He came for God's children and He prayed for them: "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them" (John 17:9-10). 

     Yes, the world today is not any different than the ante-flood days; men go about doing whatever they decide to do and God is left out of the equation, or they have build a god, a religion that satisfied the need to have a god.  Authentic Biblical Christians who have Authentic Biblical Faith will be misunderstood, persecuted, ridiculed, as was Jesus Christ, but here is the good news: These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace, in the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). 

And Thomas answered and said

     to Him, "My Lord and my God?"

Jesus said to him, 'Thomas, because

     you have seen me, you have

believed.  Blessed are those who

     have not seen and yet have believed."

                                       John 20:28-29

 Pray with thankfullness: God is Merciful

Richard L. Crumb