So this morning, i was reading from Genesis 10, and I received yet another amazing revelation from the Lord, praise God. So Genesis 10 speaks of the descendents of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now, to be COMPLETELY honest with you, I don't usually like reading about the descendents of so and so.... reason? It just seems absolutely irrelevant to me... it's like.. I don't even KNOW them, and what possible GOOD can come out of reading this passage? But then I felt God urge me to read it nonetheless. So I read it, and I realized what seems to be a theme that I've been seeing for the past couple of months.... that is, God's mercy is there EVERYWHERE, literally from the BEGINNING of time to the end. If you look at the previous chapter, Noah cursed one of his sons, Ham, for seeing his nudity & telling his brothers about it rather than covering him up. He says, "When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, 'Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.'" (Gen 9:24)

So in Gen 10, the Hamites are supposed to be cursed because of Noah. Yet despite this curse, one of Ham's descendents, Nimrod, was the ONLY one of Noah's descendents to be mentioned in more detail than the rest regarding his faith in God:

"Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, 'Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.'" (Genesis 10:8-10)

thus, you see Nimrod gaining special mention in the Bible, when everyone else was just mentioned in a fleeting moment.... their names were just listed, but Nimrod was the only one to gain this much recognition. Yet how can this BE? He's supposed to be a HAMITE, who's supposed to be CURSED due to Noah's anger. There's only one explanation- it's God's grace + mercy....
sometimes He allows things to happen to us, good or bad. But then we must always remember that just because bad things happen to us, does not mean that its the end of God's mercy. That is SO not true, because even in the midst of our trials and tribulations, in the midst of our sorrow, our anger, our bitterness, or envy, God's mercy is there... His grace is there.

For example, I know of someone who had a crush on this other person (let's call this person 'A') and my friend B. But then B found out that A was already dating someone. It came out as a shock, right? It was painful. But then you know what? B was grateful because JUST a week before, God revealed a secret that was able to rejuvenate and lessen the pains that B was going through. That's what I call grace. If B found out about A's relationship BEFORE this God-given secret, the pain would have been a LOT more unbearable.. and so B was able to praise God and be thankful for this. Case in point, God's mercy and grace is in the midst of trials.

It confirms that verse in 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says, "No temptation has seized you except for what is common to man. And God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

So, the amazing thing about God is that when He teaches you stuff, and allows you to bear some pain, it's never something that you cannot handle.... because He always gives you the strength to bear through it.... because that's just the kind of faithful and merciful and loving a God we serve. We don't deserve this. We fail all the time. I"m speaking to myself, mainly. I fall SO short of the glory of God. Yet God still cares enough about me to be with me through the tough times, as well as rejoice with me in my moments of triumph and glory.

What an awesome, loving father! : ) God is GOOOOOD! ALL the time : ) In the tough times, and in the good times, He remains good. He remains worthy to be praised. AMEN.
Blessings in Him,
Jen. S <3