Going Against the Grain Romans 12:2

When we think of God giving and taking it away, we often think of God giving us His blessing and taking it away as He did with Abraham’s son Isaac.  We read Job 1:21 and we sing it in the song “Blessed Be Your Name” by Matt Redman.

But I’m reading Genesis 8 today and it occurred to me that God also gives and takes away our punishment. 

Genesis 8 ¹ But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. ² Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. ³ The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down.

God punished the men with flood for their wickedness. It rained and rained for 40 days to destroy all living things on this earth. But God later removed the water from ground and made it dry as God pushed the water back so Moses and Israelites can walk on the dry ground.

I praise God for not only God exercises His sovereignty by sometimes taking away good things in our lives but also pains and suffering as well. Ultimately Christ came to give us His righteousness and take away our punishment for sins.