Genesis 6:8 says, ‘But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord’
There’s a principle in Scripture interpretation, referred to as ‘The Principle of First Appearance’. The principle simply states that the first time a word appears in the Bible, there’s a lot of importance attached to how the word is used in that context.
The word ‘grace’ first occurs in the Bible in Genesis 6:8. And believe me, its significance could change your life forever!
The Bible tells us that Noah found grace IN the eyes of the Lord. Some people may read that verse and just gloss over it like that. But if you pay attention, with the Spirit’s help, you’d find that Genesis 6:8 is actually trying to tell us HOW to walk in grace.
The process is actually simple.
Just look IN the eyes of God!
Some may scoff at this and say Promise likes taking scripture verses a little too literally. Others may complain that Promise is reading too many meanings to a Bible verse that simply means that God lavishly poured grace on Noah.
But the Bible never said the God poured grace on Noah!
No. It said, Noah FOUND grace IN the Lord’s eyes!
God’s grace was already abundantly available to ALL of mankind. But Noah was able to find it IN the Lord’s eyes.
What then does it mean to find grace IN the sight of God?
I’d use a story to explain:
When I was younger, anytime my parents took me for outings, but didn’t want me to eat there (for reasons best known to them), all they did was to look at me…
…and I would find the instruction not to eat IN THEIR EYES!
My parents were able to communicate with me clearly and non-verbally, regardless of how far they were from me, or the number of people in the room at the moment.
How?
Because of the relationship I had already cultivated with my parents over the years, I knew how to read meanings and receive instruction by merely looking into their eyes!
The same occurs with receiving grace.
God’s grace is already richly abundant to all of Mankind. However, the levels of manifestations of that grace differs from one to another…depending on the quality and quantity of time spent lovingly gazing into the eyes of the Father.
There’s no formula to receiving grace from the Father. All we can do is to imitate Noah, and cultivate a rich, vibrant relationship with God!
