After the flood, God spoke to Noah and his sons and presented to them a covenant that he wanted to establish with them, including every living creature with them. God wanted to work with them to make the cosmos a perfect place for all of them.
“Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth” (Genesis 9:9-10).
I would like to pose these questions: do we make a lot of promises? Are we able to keep all our promises? Is it possible to keep all our promises? Must we make a promise at all? And finally, why do we sometimes break our promises? I believe there is much scientific research that seeks to find explanations for this phenomenon and lots of theses to tell us what we can do so that we will be able to keep our promises.
One thing is obvious, and no one can escape it, my dear Christian friends. We have, one way or the other, broken several promises to somebody or ourselves. Whether it is very often or not, we have not been able to keep every promise. We should not feel so bad about it because only God can keep every promise and move on further to establish a covenant with us. It is essential to demonstrate the difference between a covenant and a promise. A covenant comes into force when both parties have duties and or obligations to fulfil, while a promise relies on one party to make sure it is kept. So, with a covenant, two parties are involved, there is a relationship, they make binding promises, and they work together to achieve their goal.
God did not just make promises but established a covenant with us; He expects us to work together to make things happen. The Ark of Noah saved only eight people and a pair of every creature. God has a covenant with us through Jesus not to save just a few from water, but through Jesus, we will receive salvation. It is so heart-warming. God wants us to work with him. Are we ready? God wants us to keep his covenant with us so that we will receive God’s love and faithfulness.
“All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.” (Psalm 25:10)
My dear Christian friends, to keep the covenant God has with us, we must be ready to die to sin; Jesus Christ died on the cross for one purpose only, which is our sins. The price has been paid; therefore, we should die to sin to have access to his saving grace, which is the covenant we have with God. It is also imperative to know the ways of God, know his path, walk in his truth, and avail ourselves of his teachings. Through this covenant with God through Jesus Christ, we can now access God.
The Spirit drove Jesus to the wilderness, stayed there for forty days, and was tempted by Satan. The Spirit of God must always lead us and know that temptations will come our way.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14).
Because we are being led by the Spirit of God, the temptations that come our way will not consume us just as Jesus was with the wild beast in the wilderness, yet the angels protected him.
Because we are the children of God, we have a covenant with him, and we must proclaim the good news and always live by it. We must be practising Christians and not just by name. We must live by the word of God, not some of the time but all the time.
Fr. Josiah Abadoo SSC