Genesis 6:5-8 (NKJV)
Genesis 6:13-21 (NKJV)
2 Peter 3:5-9 (NKJV)
Genesis 7:1-6 (NJKV)
Genesis 7:7-16 (NKJV)
Genesis 7:17-24 (NKJV)
Genesis 9:17-18 (NKJV)
I Corinthians 13:4-7 NCV
When I was young and would go to Sunday School, the story I remember most is about Noah, the animals, and the rainbow. I loved the story of Noah and all the animals on the Ark. It was magical. The rainbow that God gave as a promise was the ‘icing on the cake!’
Of course, no one read the beginning of the story of Noah to me when I was 3-4 years old. In Genesis 6:5-8 we learn that God saw His creation was evil. Those early verses tell us that God’s creation was so evil that only one man had redeeming qualities for God to save. That man’s name was Noah.
In Genesis 6:13-21, God gave Noah instructions about how to build an Ark. The instructions were detailed. It took Noah approximately 75 years to build the Ark (https://answersingenesis.org/bible-timeline/how-long-did-it-take-for-noah-to-build-the-ark/). There is no full account in scripture about what Noah’s neighbor’s thought about him, but he probably would have been the laughing stock of everyone. Remember, Noah was the only man God spoke with about what was to come. No one else had a clue. We do know from Genesis 6:22 “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”
We also know from scripture the character of God. We learn from 2 Peter 3:5-9 NKJV, “by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
That scripture tells us how difficult the decision to flood the earth was for God. God was and is not willing that any should perish, but God knew man was too evil and God did not have any other options.
God preserved what He could preserve and so Noah, his family, and the animals went into the ark. In Genesis 7:1-6 “Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.”
Noah filling the ark with all species of animals, two by two was what I remember most about the story of Noah. I remember the pictures of two lions, two giraffes, two elephants, and two of every species being marched into the ark.
I remember Noah and his family being in the ark. I knew others on the earth were not taken to the ark, but I didn’t think about them drowning. I’m not sure at four years old I understood what it meant to drown.
We read in Genesis 7:7-16, “So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark—they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.”
I think when I was four I understood there was a great rain and the water covered the earth. I don’t remember it being a happy time, but I understood that after it rains, the sun comes out.
When I heard the story of Noah, I knew that would be the case.
Genesis 7:17-24 “Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.”
As promised, God saved what He could save. Water covered the earth and all else perished. BUT...the best was to come!
In Genesis 9:11- (NKJV), “I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
According to scripture, God gave us a ‘forever’ sign in Genesis 9:16-17, “The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on to to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” ”
When I was young, I thought the story of Noah and the flood was wonderful. It was...but not for the reason I thought. My dear Joy-filled* Sunday School teacher knew the end of the story. She knew, I Corinthians 13:4-7, NCV, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and is not proud. Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. love does not count up wrongs that have been done. love takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices over the truth. Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, and always endures.”
When I was 4 years old, my Sunday School teacher knew the end of the story...and it IS a spectacular miraculous story! I knew the rainbows I saw in the sky were a promise from God...and that was enough.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Contemplate the Rainbow Promise.
Today, take time to remember the everlasting promise God makes to us. God IS patient and kind...His love never fails and His promises are true. If you are praying for something that has not come to pass, do not give up! God will not fail!
In God, Deborah
acrazyjourney.com
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