Understanding God: He Honors Parental Decrees
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.” – Genesis 8:20-21
In continuation of our series on understanding the nature and character of God, another of His personality attributes that we shall focus on today is the fact that He listens to parents, and He honors their decrees over their children, be that good or bad.
History abounds with accounts of parents, male or female, who had engineered the destinies of their children, positively or negatively, through their utterances. There are also a number of examples in the Bible where parents have made certain declarations concerning their children, either in joy, in annoyance, or in pain, and those decrees have come to pass. This is because God has placed the destinies of the children primarily in the mouths of their parents and secondarily in the mouths of prophets, who can either establish a parental blessing or reverse it in cooperation with the parents or as an oracle of God.
For our reference today, we see from the above passage of the Bible how Noah came to live out the destiny decreed concerning him by his father, Lamech, hundreds of years later. We had earlier read about how Lamech made a rather unusual declaration concerning his son, Noah, when he was born.
Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.” – Genesis 5:28-29
Lamech made this statement when he had Noah at the age of 182 years. He then went on to live for another 595 years. Between the years that Lamech died and the year that Noah was called by God, the earth had become even more corrupt, with everyone doing his or her own thing, much to the vexation of God.
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 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 6:5-8
This passage ends on a rather interesting note because while the whole earth was perverted and displeasing God, there was no indication before this time that Noah was any different from the rest of the world. However, he found grace in the eyes of God. In other words, even though Noah himself might have been sinful and corrupt like the rest of the people, he, in particular, found grace (favor unmerited) from God that distinguished him from everyone else and singled him out for God to walk and work with.
Although, the next verse following this passage describes Noah as a just man, he did not attain his upright nature until he was first a beneficiary of the grace of God. In other words, Noah came to be known as just, perfect, and walking with God only after he had found grace in the eyes of God (Genesis 6:9).
Why was Noah’s case different? Why did he come to be distinguished in an era filled with sinners and perverts? The answer is simple, because his father had made a decree concerning him when he was born that he would be the one to offer comfort to the earth concerning the curse that God had placed on the grounds after the disobedience of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:17-19, Genesis 5:28-29).
Thousands of years after the curse of the ground and six hundred years after his father’s prophetic declaration, Noah indeed fulfilled this destiny by virtue of the force of the spoken word or the influence of a parental decree.
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake. – Genesis 8:20-21
That this scenario played out as it did was a testament to the power of a parental declaration and the important role a parent’s utterances wield in the life and destiny of a child because God listens to them.
Selah!
Also read:
- Men in the Bible: Noah, A Man of Experiments
- The Ordinance of Firstfruits (1): Separating the Truth from Myths and Sentiments
- How the World Reacts to Your Failing
- A New Body
- The Angel Of The Lord Encamps Around Those Who Fear Him
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