Noah – Week 2, Day 5

REFLECT
What we see throughout the life of Noah is one of faith, and trust in God. He believed God was alive and real, and he decided to follow God when the rest of the world chose to rebel and go their own way. Noah subjected himself to ridicule and scorn to follow God’s instructions for his life and the life of his family. He chose to follow even if he had no assurance that he would see the outcome. When the storm was raging around him, he chose to trust God to protect him and all those inside the Ark. He even trusted God for the safety of all the animals to live in such close quarters for such a long time without any problems.

Because Noah was faithful, God blessed him and made a covenant with him for all of mankind.

When you come upon situations that don’t seem to make sense, yet you are sure God is asking you to walk down a path that you may not be sure about, trust that God has your best interests at heart. However, if you hear God telling you to leave a spouse or family, it would be good to ask wise and experienced people here at Glenkirk, as this is probably not a message from God.

If you have gifts and talents that God is calling you to use for His kingdom, follow where He is calling you. Living out your purpose is the greatest calling anyone can have. It doesn’t matter what your age; follow and trust where God wants to take you in your life. Following God’s leading can only bring you into a righteous and blessed life, and you then can be like Noah and “walk with God”

- Steve Sposato

Noah – Week 2, Day 4

READ
Genesis 9
Psalm 9

REFLECT
God made a covenant as well as instructions to Noah after they left the Ark. “The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. Every living creature will be food for you; as [I gave] the green plants, I have given you everything. However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man’s brother for a man’s life. Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His image” (HSCB). This section also begins and ends with God calling Noah and his family to be fruitful and multiply and to spread out over the earth (vs.1,7). As with Adam, God gives instructions to Noah and his family on what they receive, what to expect from the creation and what they are given by God. He also gives them a caution on what they should not do, and what God will do if mankind chooses to end a life before God does.

God goes on to tell Noah the covenant he is agreeing to from verse 12-17. And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations: I have placed My bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh: water will never again become a deluge to destroy all flesh. The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh on earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between Me and all flesh on earth.” God sets the stage for Christ to come. If God will not destroy mankind or His creation He will eventually need a way to redeem the inclination for evil in the world. When Adam and Eve sinned, the wheels were set in motion for a Savior to redeem us. Yet God wiped out all evil from the earth with the flood and still he sets up a plan to provide Christ to return, even though Noah and his family were righteous and blessed.

The last part of the chapter is sort of a postscript and a genealogy to follow to Christ. “Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.” Canaan is the greater part of the African continent, which includes Egypt. All the earth’s population can trace their roots to one of Noah’s sons.

Noah was not immune from sin. He plants a vineyard sometime later and get drunk, and was naked in his tent according to the last part of Chapter 9. Ham saw his father and instead of doing something, he got his two other brothers to cover up their father, which they did with great respect. When Noah wakes up later, he curses Ham for not doing the more respectful thing. To act in respectful ways ourselves is much better than to expect others to do so. We want to act in loving ways to those who may be weak at times, or may be weak and need help to gain strength. This may mean tough love, or acts of kindness. Whatever is needed, when we act instead of “passing the buck” to someone else, we bring honor to ourselves and to the other person. This can be seen at places like the L.A. Mission, where people who come for shelter and meals are called “guests.” They are treated with respect and dignity as “created in the image of God.” (www.lamission.com)

PRAY
Father, Thank You for Your unending love for us. We are forever grateful for Your grace and Your mercy. Help us to be people of honor and blessing to those who may be in a broken or difficult place. We look to You for our strength and our very breath. Allow us to grow more and more into Your image. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Noah – Week 2, Day 3

READ
Genesis 8
Psalm 8

REFLECT
The waters had been raging for 150 days at this point. Now we are told in chapter 8 that “God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to subside” (HCSB). God began the process of restoration as the waters began to subside.

Even though the waters were retreating there was still a period of waiting that needed to occur. Scripture tells us it was not until the tenth month when the waters receded enough for Noah to send out a raven to find dry ground. It was a total of one year before the waters dried up enough to leave the Ark.

The first thing Noah did after God called him and his family out of the Ark, was to build an altar. In verse 20 we are told, “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (HCSB) Noah gave thanks to God. He acknowledged God as the one who brought them through the flood. Next we are told, “When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, He said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, even though man’s inclination is evil from his youth. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease” (vs.21, 22, HCSB) God saw that Noah was faithful and God made a promise to Himself. When God makes a promise with Himself He cannot break it. He is making a covenant with Himself. In this passage we see God’s mercy and grace in that He acknowledges man’s evil and yet He gives man grace and mercy to live.

This can be seen as another hint at the coming of Christ to redeem the world. If God will not destroy humanity because of his evil inclination then what will God do? He needs another way to release us from the evil state in which we find ourselves. Verse 22 can be seen as God prophesying. Remember Noah and his family are the only humans alive at this point. Even though God has called Noah righteous and blessed, He still says mankind has an evil inclination. God knew a Savior was still needed. The inclination toward evil was still present in mankind even through Noah that did not end at the flood.

Noah showed trust and patience in the Lord’s plan. He continued to send out birds to test the dryness of the ground, yet he waited for God to call him out of the Ark.

We are to keep moving forward in life, and we move in a major way when we hear the “okay” from God. Do you find yourself moving and acting on what seems to be okay, without an “okay” from God, or do you trust God for all your steps? Learning to wait for a green light from God is one of the best ways to grow and mature as a Christian. When we get impatient and move before God says “Go!” we get into difficult situations and problems, because we are relying on our power. Give God the ability to steer the direction for your life and watch to see the difference it makes. Ask those you know if they are doing this and what difference it is making in their lives.

PRAY
Father, Thank You for making a covenant with Yourself to never destroy us or curse the ground as You once did. Thank You for the plan of redemption You had in Your Son for us. We pray that You help us to learn to wait for a “go” from You before we move on important decisions and actions in our lives. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Noah – Week 2, Day 2

READ
Genesis 7
Psalm 7

REFLECT
In Chapter 6, God instructed Noah on the size the Ark was to be, the types of materials to build the Ark out of, and the number and types of animals to bring into the Ark. God told Noah that He would bring a “deluge” onto the earth to destroy everything. In Chapter 7 God instructed Noah, his wife and three sons to enter the Ark with all the animals and other food stocks He told him to bring.

At this point it is significant to mention several things. First, up until the flood there had never been any rain on the earth, according to ancient meteorologist. Plants and crops were watered by dew-like mist that would come in the night.

The Ark was 450 feet high, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. This took Noah and his sons about 100 years to build, according to Easton’s Bible Dictionary.

Now remember, Noah did all this because God instructed him to do it. No one had ever seen rain, and he was building a boat so big without being anywhere near a large water source. Do you think those around him ridiculed and mocked him? If he told them that God was going to make it rain, they probably laughed at him and thought he was crazy. In Chapter seven God calls Noah and his family to enter the Ark, and the water begins to burst from the ground (vs.11), it began to rain, and God sent the deluge to wipe out all that He created, except for those on the Ark. We are told Noah was 600 years old when it began to rain. What do you think you might be doing when you are 60,70, or 80 years old? Could you be building anything of this size on your own strength?

It rained for 40 days and the waters surged (vs.24) on the earth for 150 days. Everything left on the earth was destroyed. There is debate on whether the flood was just local or if it covered the entire earth. According to Hugh Ross at Reasons to Believe ministry (www.reasons.org), the flood was confined to the areas in and around Mesopotamia, where mankind was living at that time. So the flood occurred to wipe out man and his sinfulness, along with the plants and animals in the areas where man was living. (Writers note: this information on the flood’s location was gathered using the language from the original Hebrew and Greek texts, which give clarity to the English translation.)

Imagine you are on a boat. It’s raining – something you had never seen before – and you are in an area with every kind of animal on earth. Would you get a little nervous or uncertain? Remember we were told that “Noah walked with the Lord.”

He went by faith that God would protect him, his family, and all the animals. He was confident that God would protect him. What keeps you from believing the promises God makes to you? What keeps you from trusting what He says He will do for you? What experience, situation, or person(s), in the past has you doubting God and His Word? We might safely assume Noah had walked with God his whole life. If that is not your situation – or even if it is – and you have trouble trusting God when the storms come in your life, ask God to help you root out and heal those things that keep you from believing and trusting in Him and what He says He will do. God may bring many ways to help you grow and heal; pursue those things that can help you grow in your trust in God. What seems to be the case more often than not is that He uses His people and resources to be the instrument to bring us to a place of healing so we might trust him more.

PRAY
Lord, We are thankful that we have You to turn to when the storms rage around us. We ask that You help to remove those obstacles that stop us from trusting You completely. Bring into our lives those people who can be “Jesus with skin on” to us, allow them to help us grow and heal from past hurts or difficulties that keep us from connecting with you on a deeper way. We strive to be like Noah who walked with you and was found righteous. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Noah – Week 2, Day 1

READ
Genesis 6
Psalm 6

REFLECT
Today we will look at an interesting passage in the Old Testament. Genesis 6 explains to the reader the reasons God chose to bring a flood upon the earth to destroy all living things. Yet we also see that one man that found favor in God’s eyes, Noah.

Genesis 6:1-5 is one of those sections of scripture that can be a challenge to understand. Verse 1 tells us the men had begun to grow in numbers on earth. By this time in Genesis man had been on earth about a thousand years from the time of Adam and Eve. Verse 2 seems to be a little confusing; “the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.” (Gen 6:2, NIV) The sons of God were the descendents of Adam. The daughters that are spoken of are the daughters born through the marriages of men to women. The “sons of God” are the descendents from Abel’s family. These men began to marry women from the descendents of Cain’s family, and they based their decision to marry solely on the looks of these women. By choosing to marry women that came from a godless group, mankind began to be more and more corrupt, wicked, and violent. In verse 3 we are told that God was grieved that man became corrupt and evil. Because of this corruption God limited man’s lifespan to 120 years. (Before this the sons of God lived very long lives, over 900 years.)

As God saw all the corruption and man’s wickedness, God decided to send a flood on the earth to destroy all living things on the earth (Gen 6:7). At the same time God had decided to wipe out all life from the earth. The Bible says that God regretted making man; we are also told that His heart was grieved because of the widespread evil He saw. Yet in one sentence, and what looks like almost an afterthought, we are told in verse 8, “Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” Verse 9 goes on to tell the reader a little more about Noah and his family: These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.

Of all the men on the earth, God found Noah righteous and blameless. The Bible also says that Noah walked with God. To think that Noah and his family were the only ones of all the people on the earth at that time to find favor with God, and that God chooses to save Noah, his family, and creation, is a testament to Noah and how he chose to follow God rather than the world.

Not much has changed from Noah’s time to now; we have widespread corruption and many people do evil things. Additionally, we have much subtler forms of deception and evil to resist. Do you find yourself torn many times which way to go, at home, at work, or with people around you?

For a committed believer to Christ, to walk with the Lord as Noah did is to walk in opposition to the world and its draw of good things that can enslave us at some point.

Does the idea of being known as someone who “walks with God” and to be found “righteous and blameless” among your peers appeal to you? Would you like to have that said about you by your children? Let’s see some of the qualities that Noah exhibited so we might follow a righteous and blameless life.

PRAY
Father, We thank you that you chose to save a man like Noah, because he chose to walk with you. We are grateful that we have the same chance as Noah did to walk with you. Because of the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit, you can help to transform us into righteous and blameless people, so that your name can be glorified. We ask you to show us the way to righteousness and to help remove from us those things that get in the way of living right and blameless. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Readings – Week 2

Day	Directed Reading	Devotional Reading	Through the Bible Reading
Monday	Genesis 6	Psalm 6	Genesis 6 & Job 15-18
Tuesday	Genesis 7	Psalm 7	Genesis 7 & Job 19-21
Wednesday	Genesis 8	Psalm 8	Genesis 8 & Job 22-25
Thursday	Genesis 9	Psalm 9	Genesis 9 & Job 26-29
Friday	Job 1-3	Psalm 10	Genesis 10-11 & Job 30-31