The Amazing Covenant Keeper
When I saw the title of this week’s lesson, “An Everlasting Covenant” I automatically thought of how faithful God has been to His covenant even when His people were not keeping their end of the bargain. For example, in Exodus 32 God’s people worship a golden calf. Then God acts as if He is going to destroy them when Moses intercedes:
Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people! Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’” So the Lord changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people. Exodus 32:12-14 NLT
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
Now whether or not God actually intended to destroy His people or if He was merely testing Moses, when Moses reminded God of His covenant promise to Abraham, God did not destroy them and He took the remnant into the promised land just as He had well, promised! We could have reasoned, well Abraham is dead; He will never know. We could have reasoned that the children of Israel did not deserve God’s promises, but none of that kept God from keeping His covenant with His people. God is the Amazing Covenant Keeper.
Later we see something that to me is even more amazing. In Joshua 9 and Joshua 10, the Gibeonites used deceit to trick Israel into letting them in on the covenant God had made with them. Even though Israel was not supposed to make a covenant with anyone living as close as the Gibeonites, they did because they were tricked into it. Later when the Gibeonites were under attack, they called upon Israel to save them,
The men of Gibeon quickly sent messengers to Joshua at his camp in Gilgal. “Don’t abandon your servants now!” they pleaded. “Come at once! Save us! Help us! For all the Amorite kings who live in the hill country have joined forces to attack us.” Joshua 10:6 NLT
Now Joshua very well could have told Gibeon, “You tricked us! We are not going to help you. What you did was dirty, and we don’t have to help you.” But instead, Joshua rushes to their aid. After all, a promise is a promise.
So Joshua and his entire army, including his best warriors, left Gilgal and set out for Gibeon. Joshua 10:7 NLT
Now God could have told Joshua, “I am not helping you and Gibeon! You never should have let them in on our covenant. I am under no obligation whatsoever to help you or Gibeon since you both went about making this covenant all wrong!” But God is not like that. Instead God encourages Joshua to fight against Gibeon’s attackers.
Do not be afraid of them,” the Lord said to Joshua, “for I have given you victory over them. Not a single one of them will be able to stand up to you.” Joshua 10:8 NLT
It doesn’t stop there. God does something tremendously amazing to save these ornery rascals. He makes the sun stand still for them so they can defeat their enemies.
On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel. He said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies. Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day. There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day! Joshua 10:12-14 NLT
Did you catch what just happened? God, could have told Joshua the covenant was not legal since Joshua never should have made the covenant with a neighbor in the first place. God could have said Gibeon cheated in order to get in on the covenant and therefore it should not be honored. But instead of saying any of that God makes the sun stand still in order to fulfill His promise which neither Joshua nor Gibeon deserved! Talk about an Amazing Covenant Keeper!
Friends I personally have read in the Bible about the conditions to receive God’s blessings, and I have to admit I have not met those conditions, and yet God’s blessings keep pouring in. What I have personally experienced is a God Who is more wonderful and merciful than He even claims to be. I have experienced a God who will make the sun stand still for me when I don’t deserve the time of day. He is an Amazing Covenant Keeper! It is because He is so merciful, forgiving and faithful that I choose to obey Him. David also experienced the amazing mercy of our Amazing Covenant Keeper when he said,
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Psalm 34:8 NLT
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