What does it mean to have God’s favour? The Hebrew word translated as favour is chen, which can also mean ‘grace’ or ‘acceptance’. The first time the word ‘favour’ appears in the Bible is Genesis 6:8, telling us that ‘Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD’ (NIVUK). God had decided to destroy the inhabitants of earth because they’d become so corrupted and evil. The only ones spared were Noah and his family, because Noah had God’s favour. He was ‘a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God’ (v. 9 NLT). He hadn’t allowed the world to influence and corrupt him, and instead stayed true to God, so God saved him and used him to re-establish the human race. One of the things that set Noah apart was his obedience to God. And our best example of obedience is Jesus, who ‘grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man’ (Luke 2:52 NIVUK). So how can we also find and grow in favour? It all starts when we surrender our lives to Christ and accept God’s grace and love, and continues as we show our obedience to God through the way we live. And as we do that, we’ll notice God blessing us in all kinds of ways. He wants to favour every aspect of our lives and help us in every possible way. But first, we’ve got to position ourselves to receive that favour by being obedient. If God knows He’ll get the glory for what He’s doing in our lives, He’ll bless us beyond our ability and beyond our resources.

What now?

Have an honest think about how obedient you are to God. Starting today, what one thing could you begin to do, or do differently, which would demonstrate your obedience to Him?