Each Wednesday, a devotion is posted here, sent via email to our email list and also posted on our Facebook page. If you would like to be part of our email list please contact the church office. In addition, check out past Devotions on our Facebook page.
I often receive feedback that the devotions are rich in content and are complex. Reading devotions whether short and concise or longer and complicated should never be read once quickly. All types of devotions should be read multiple times using contemplation, reflection and pausing. In those spaces of contemplation and reflection we experience the Holy Spirit interacting with us. Sometimes, individuals will reach out and provide their thoughts and reflections on their devotion. My intent has always been to create a dialogue. So read these in the way that best works for you to experience the Holy Spirit and create a dialogue with others in our community.
Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Hi St. Andrew’s UMC Community….
How do you feel when a promise is broken? How often do you break promises? Today we consider God’s promise to us!
Why Follow the Covenant?
Genesis 6:18, 9:8-17
“I promise we’ll be together forever.” Words from my girlfriend during my senior year of college who I wanted to marry. She promised so there is no reason to worry, I thought. But she decided that her promise didn’t matter when she met Mark and didn’t want a long-distance relationship with me anymore. Broken promises. We have all experienced them.
In Genesis 6:18, God realizes that a reset in humanity is necessary, but not a full reset. God wanted to make a covenant, a relationship agreement that is deeply connected to humanity’s inner-most being, with Noah and his descendants. In Genesis 9:8-17, that covenant occurs. In both Scriptures, God provides the covenant and, in both cases, by his actions Noah says yes to the covenant.
What actions do you have in which you are living out the covenant that God has for you? What blocks you from fully experiencing God’s covenant with you - a covenant that is beyond any human agreement? A covenant of God faithfully, without fail, always providing in a variety of ways, if we are willing to say yes to that type of relationship with God. What fear or fears do you have that limits you from fully entering into the covenant with God? What worldly items do you seek that takes you away from God’s covenant?
May you let go of those items that hold you back from experiencing God’s covenant of love, grace, mercy, and abundance.
Dear God, thank You for Your covenant of never-ending love, grace, mercy, healing and abundance. Help me to let go of those items that are blocking me from fully entering the covenant with You. Amen.
(Image from: https://www.color-meanings.com/colors-of-the-rainbow-and-their-meanings/)
By Rev. David Piltz
