Every family has those parts of their story that they would rather not tell: how Great-Uncle Joe was the town drunk, how that one cousin was the result of an adulterous relationship, or how great-grandma spent most of her life in a mental institution. If you were writing a family history to inspire future generations about where they came from, those are events that you would probably choose to leave out.

The Lord, on the other hand, inspired Moses to leave those parts in when he wrote the origin story of the nation of Israel in the book of Genesis. All throughout the book, we see God demonstrating abounding grace to those who do not deserve it. The family of God is fraught with failures and flops, yet the Lord carries out his plan through them and lavishes his blessing upon them.

As we have seen in our studies of the earlier chapters of Genesis, Israel’s family history is our family history too. We are brought into their story through the same unmerited blessing he showed them. At one time, we were strangers and foreigners to God’s people, but now we have been brought near and made part of the household of God (see Eph. 2:11-22). In their stories, we see our own, as if we were looking in a mirror. At first, this might make us want to hide in shame. However, in telling the story of God’s unmerited blessing, we are set free from shame and testify to the work only he can accomplish.

May God be glorified as we see his grace in our family origin story of unmerited blessing.