"Even Though..." - Devotion on Genesis 8

Scripture: Genesis 8:21-22

The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

²² “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

We have a tendency to rationalize our negative behavior, to minimize our mistakes, and to ignore our imperfections as much as possible. Mostly as a defense mechanism. If we looked at ourselves as we truly are in the vileness of our sin, in the lameness of our efforts, and in the weakness of our human bodies, we'd just be depressed all the time.

We can face our faults briefly, once in a while, or when something really big happens that we can't gloss over, but for the most part, we make a habit of shielding our eyes from seeing ourselves as we truly are.

In contrast, God sees us exactly as we are, all the time. He knows every rude or ignorant thought we have, every sarcastic or cutting remark we say, and every profane or hurtful thing we do.

And yet He chooses to give us grace.

As God said in Genesis 8:21-22, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

God says, "I know that every single human leans toward evil every chance they get, every single day of their lives from the time they're born to the time they die. Even though that's the reality of who people are..."

God chooses to withhold punishment. God even chooses to go beyond that and blesses us with the crops and seasons that we need to live. God chooses to be good to us in our daily lives despite everything we've done that day!

"Even though" is God's way of saying "grace." "Even though" is God's way of saying "I am good to you when you are not good to Me, yourself, or those around you." "Even though" is God's invitation to us to worship and thank Him for giving us everything that we don't deserve.