But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. — Genesis 6:8
The verse above from Genesis is the first time that we are introduced to the word grace. It entered at an interesting time in the history of humanity. God looked down and saw the wickedness across the world and decided to send judgment for the wickedness. He was going to send a flood.
But we find that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Grace has been defined as the undeserved favor of God towards men. The Scripture goes on to tell the history and story of Noah and his family and how God spared them from the judgment. Did God have to spare Noah? Absolutely not. He could have started over once again, destroying everything in this world.
Noah did not understand God’s grace when the situation started. He was simply operating in faith, doing what God wanted him to do. It’s after his faith and the experience that he realized the grace of God. Grace is always seen after it is experienced and sometimes we do not see it at all with our eyes. One day we will, though.
I’m reminded of the words of Jonathan Edwards. He said, “Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.” We are experiencing a little of the glory that is to come as we experience God’s grace in this world. One day, we will experience the grace perfected and fully realized. We will be able to look back and see all the grace that God extended to truly appreciate what He did for us.