Father God, we thank You for the reminder that You are the Only One who makes true covenants and keeps them. Your instructions for us to be ‘fruitful and multiply’ in all that we do is abundantly clear as we read Your word. May we prosper in all things even as our souls prosper. Above all else, we pray that we would be most prolific in keeping Your word and doing Your will.
We thank You for setting Your rainbow in the clouds as a sign of a covenant between You and the earth that You will never again flood the entire earth to destroy all life. We thank You that You are always true to Your word and we can count on the fact that You will remain true to all Your words, even as heaven and earth pass away.
While You have placed all things on earth under our dominion, may the fact that You have a covenant with the earth keep us from desecrating it. Keep us also from desecrating the rainbow, a sign of Your covenant, for our own purposes.
Holy Spirit, help us to see that there is no such thing as hidden sin or shame in our own lives that does not affect others, especially people close to us. May we be aware that unless we repent, it has an immediate impact on our own lives as well as an impact on multiple generations that come after us. Remind us that what we tolerate even minimally in moderation will be carried out in excess in future generations.
Lord Jesus, let our first and immediate instinct when we come upon the sin of another person be to cover them and counsel them in gentleness when the time is right. May we never seek to expose anyone else’s sin for the perverse purposes of making ourselves feel better about ourselves or for the sake of gossip. Remind us always of the covering that You have provided for us. May we be quick to extend to others the same grace and covering that has been given to us.
Father God, forgive us for twisting the words that we find in this chapter and using them as an excuse to hold each other in physical bondage and slavery. We confess that the consequence of having done that is now a world-wide and generational slavery to sin and sorrow that is multiplying exponentially.
Lord Jesus, help us to see that the price for our deliverance has already been paid by Your death on the cross. You have conquered sin, death, and sorrow, so that we no longer have to live as slaves in bondage to any of it. Keep us from making a mockery of Your sacrifice and holding ourselves and each other down.
Holy Spirit, as You help us glean all the wisdom that can be found in these words, help us to also notice the glaring lack of repentance and reconciliation. May it not be lacking in our lives. Open our spiritual eyes and help us to see that we need to be genuinely reconciled to You before we can even begin to contemplate the idea of being genuinely reconciled to one another.
