Day 118

Of God’s Covenant.

Chapter 7, Paragraph 1.

“The distance between God and the Creature is so great, that although reasonable Creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of Life, but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of Covenant.“

Scripture Lookup

Luke 17:10

Job 35:7,8

Reflection

Even though we have seen how far above us is God, we can still find it hard sometimes to grasp that He is so far above us. God is viewed as a buddy, rather than an infinitely wise and holy Being. Perhaps it is the result of how evangelicalism has emphasized the relationship between God and man: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” So much emphasis is placed on what God can do for you, that we forget who He is, and how limited we are in comprehending Him.

There is such a vast difference between the creature and the Creator, though. Our allegiance is due to Him since He created us; He has no obligation towards us whatsoever. We do not deserve any reward for obeying Him, because obeying Him is what we were supposed to be doing all along. The reward of Life was not an inherent right given to Adam and Eve.

God, understanding the limitations of His creatures, freely chose to extend the offer of Life to them. His manner in doing this was by entering into a covenant. A covenant is a solemn commitment. By graciously entering into covenant with His creation, God promises blessing upon certain conditions.

When studying how God interacts with us by of covenant, we see His majesty in dealing with mere creatures such as ourselves. His benevolence towards us is not like the wide-eyed devotion of your pet dog. The love God bestows is far richer, far more precious, because He has to stoop from such a height to interact with us.

Questions to Consider

• Have you ever reflected on the great divide between the Creator and His creation?