Covenant

     What is a covenant?  It is a pact, treaty, alliance, or agreement between two parties.  A covenant with God will not be broken and should not between people.  His Word is final no matter what.  He never needed to use a covenant, but He did to help us relax and understand Him better.  It is also to protect the future generations that will come.
     The covenant God made with Noah was really a blessing with a promise.  He told them to go on with their lives and move past the traumatic flood and all they had lost.  He wanted them to see all they had and could have.  The world was theirs to repopulate and take care of.  It had become simple again. 
     People need boundaries or we do not survive well.  It becomes each person for themselves if we don't know where the boundaries are.  To keep them from self destructing, God gave them boundaries on how to treat life.  Blood is life.  If we shed innocent blood, then the consequences are or should be severe.  A life for a life because we are made in God's image.  ALL LIFE is precious, so we need to take care of all living things. 
     Part of God's covenant was to never wipe out all life through a flood that would destroy the world ever again.  He gave us the rainbow as a sign of this covenant.  That way when it rains and we see the rainbow we can smile and thank Him for life. 
    Noah and his family lived and made mistakes.  Some more embarrassing than others.  It came to where Noah allowed his pride to be shaken and he cursed one of his sons while blessing the other two.  Words matter and can hold long term consequences for good or evil.  A curse or blessing is a form of covenant.  It may not be an agreement, but if you accept it, then it holds power over you.

Genesis 9