Praise God For His Promise

“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ’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. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ And God said, ’This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth’" (Genesis 9:8-17, ESV).

We praise one who has accomplished what is good. We praise him, especially if he did something different from the ordinary.

In our present time, we would admire and vote a particular political candidate, because he or she did something praiseworthy. In fact, others praise someone just for the nice things he said. They praise even for the promise made, which they believe are doable, helpful and for the common good.

However, in Psalm 112:1, we read: “Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!”

We need to praise Him more than anyone else. As the Psalmist also declared, “Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?” (Ps. 113:5).

There is no one like Him. Even the promises He made are so different from what we are accustomed to hear in this world.

Just for His promise, we could praise Him.

So, this time let’s examine a particular promise He made. By uncovering its gem, we would appreciate His other promises. Not only that, we would be motivated more to praise Him, as we explore our topic: PRAISE GOD FOR HIS PROMISE, as we focus on our text (Gen. 9:8-17).

Aside from considering who He is and His marvelous works, why praise God for His promise? What could we see in it that we could praise Him?

In previous seven verses of chapter 9, we cited the blessings of God that we could be thankful for. We could be thankful for His command. We could be thankful for His decree. And we could be thankful for His judgement.

Now, in our text we could point out the blessing of His word of promise. Not only we could be thankful for it, but we could also truly praise Him.

Now, what could we observe in His promise that we could praise God?

I – PRAISE GOD FOR HIS SOVEREIGN PROMISE (vv. 8-11).

We read verses 8-11, “Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ‘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. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’" 

God is Sovereign. He is in Authority. He rules and controls. And His Sovereign rule is not just in a particular or limited sphere. He rules over all. His Sovereign Will is absolute. So, His Sovereign Authority reigns over all any existing authorities.

Thus, His promise is so different from what man makes. When we say, God’s promise is Sovereign, we mean it is lofty, majestic, excellent, effectual or efficacious.

Notice verse 11, God said: “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

A “covenant” is a contract or agreement. One party or two parties promised to do something – a unilateral or a bilateral agreement. In this case, it’s unilateral. Only one party made the promise – God. It implied that He is in control of the flood waters, not only during that time but even in the future, when He said, “never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”