The reassuring pattern of Genesis

As I've been preaching through Genesis two unmistakeable truths have remained constant: humanity's sinfulness, and God's grace.  

In Adam and Eve the pattern is set - direct defiance of God's kingship followed by an attempt at shifting responsibility once the sin is pointed out.  Cain, the first baby born in history is also the first murderer.  Lamech is not only a murderer, but one who boasts of his sin without shame.  Noah looks pretty good, until we see him passed out naked in his tent.  The builders of the tower of Babel assume they can live glorious lives while ignoring their creator.  Lot manages to disguise his righteousness remarkably by moving into the most wicked city on the planet, and hesitating when told to leave.  And then we have Abraham, the father of our Faith.  Abraham manages to twice act deceitfully about the nature of his relationship with Sarah, bringing curse rather than blessing on the Egyptians and Philistines, not to mention the embarrassing fling with Hagar resulting in the birth of Ishmael - father of the Arabs.  And yet through all of this we see God remaining faithful while his people are not.  One would think Abraham was doing his level best to hijack God's plans of giving him Isaac but sure enough, in chapter 21 we hear the cries of the promised child.  

In the whole of the book so far, only two characters of any note look half decent.  One is Melchizedek, the great high priest and signpost to the Christ, and Abimelech, the King of Gerar.  

I am grateful that God has chosen to do great things through weak people, and that he gives us that pattern at the very beginning of history.  That three of the greatest figures in scripture - Moses, David and Paul are murderers is reassuring.  He often chooses to use the unremarkable to do his work and show that he is the only hero, not us.  Even more encouraging is the fact that when God makes a promise, he keeps it, no matter what.  His promises are dependent on him, not us.  Praise God for his faithfulness even when we are unfaithful, and may it spur us on to thank him with holy lives in expectation of the fulfillment of his promises for us.