Looking for signs of grace....

As I am reading through the NLT One Year Chronological Bible, I am looking for signs of God's grace toward the people He made in his image. Grace is God's unmerited favor towards people.

 

I came across two individuals that God showed grace towards ~ Cain and Noah.

 

You may be saying to yourself, "I can understand grace toward Noah but Cain? Didn't he kill his brother and was cursed by God?"

 

Yes, Cain was cursed by God for killing his brother but even God's judgment was tempered with grace. 

 

Here's the passage:

 

⁸ One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.”And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.
⁹ Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
¹⁰ But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! ¹¹ Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. ¹² No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
¹³ Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! ¹⁴ You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
¹⁵ The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Notice that Cain said his punishment was too great for him and that someone would kill him because of this deed which he had done.

 

The mark was not part of the judgement. It was a sign of grace so that no would harm Cain. Even in His judgment God was gracious to Cain.

 

The second instance of a sign of grace was with Noah.

 

Noah lived among people who were wicked and did not follow God. His father, Lamech, named him prophetically, Genesis 5:29 states, " Lamech named his son Noah, for he said, “May he bring us relief from our work and the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord has cursed.”

 

Noah sounds like the Hebrew word for "relief" or "comfort".

 

God's heart was broken at the way the people were living. He regretted that He has made them. He decided to judge them and destroy all the creatures He had made. Noah was a righteous man and he consistently followed God's will and enjoy a close relationship with Him. Noah found favor (or grace) with the Lord.

 

God delivered Noah and his family through the waters of the flood by commanding Noah to build an ark. Noah did so. He took his family and the animals God commanded him to take along.

 

From both cases we can see that God shows favor on whom He wills. It is not earned or deserved.  Cain did what was wrong, Noah did what was right.

But God's grace is based on neither one of these...

It is based on His goodness.

Today thank Him for His goodness and that He has shown you grace today.