Restoration

"Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 'Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.'" -Genesis 8.13-17

After more than a year on board the ark, the water is gone, land is dry again, and Noah, his family, and the animals, are led out of the ark. God gives the same command here that He gave to Adam and Eve at the beginning of creation, be fruitful and multiply on the earth. God has flooded the earth, washing away the abundant wickedness, and has given His creation a fresh start. They have been given a second chance. God has brought restoration.

God is a god of restoration. His creation had disobeyed Him and lived as far from Him as they could, only one man on earth is said to have been faithful and righteous. God destroys the wicked, washing their evil from the earth, and gives the righteous man a fresh start. The flood narrative shows elements of the original creation, and it points ahead to the final redemption of creation. God made the earth good, and man messed it up. God flooded the earth, destroying wickedness and starting with a righteous, but fallen man. Since that time, man has not improved the situation, wickedness and rebellion to God is abundant. God sent Jesus, who through the cross, provided the "ark" of salvation for all who will believe. The "flood" is coming, at which point evil will be eradicated forever, and God will bring about complete restoration of His creation.

God is a god of restoration. There is nothing that He cannot redeem. With Noah, man saw what the result of wickedness was, but he has not learned. Even greater destruction awaits, but so does an even greater restoration. All who board the "ark" of Christ, will be saved from destruction, and enjoy the perfect restoration of creation where evil will never taint it again. That is what God is going to do.

TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!

Peace be with you

Remembers

"But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided." -Genesis 8.1

For forty days it rained, until the highest mountain was fully under water. Then the rain stopped, and all the life left on earth floated on the water, safely in the ark, for six months. God saved their lives, but now they are confined to a wooden box, a little larger than a football field, with three levels. And it's full of animals. There was room, but limited room, and I imagine there was a decent odor. The video I mentioned last week depicted food stores starting to run low. I've seen a live action drama, and in it tempers start to flare as the brothers get on each other's nerves. God didn't save them to let them starve on the ark, or kill each other out of frustration. God remembers Noah and all of the animals, and He begins to make the waters recede so that they can begin to repopulate the earth.

God remembers His faithful and obedient servants. It can be easy to get discouraged. Sure, God saved Noah from a watery grave, but after months on the ark, I'm sure there were times when he thought it would be his coffin. Life happens, we get out of the frying pan only to land in the fire, or so it seems. But God remembers. God saved Noah for a reason and a purpose, and God remembers Him.

When God makes a promise, He doesn't leave it unfulfilled, He can't leave it unfulfilled. When God sets out to do something, He never leaves it incomplete. Paul said in Philippians 1, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." God is at work in your life, and even though it may seem like He has saved you from the flood so that you could die on the ark, He hasn't. God knows where you are, and He remembers you. God knows what He is doing, and when the time is right, He will cause the flood waters to subside and bring you out of the ark. God remembers.

TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!

Peace be with you

Thank God

"Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar." -Genesis 8.20

Noah gets off the ark, what would your reaction be? Kissing the ground? Shouting for joy? Getting started on a new place to live? A man who walks with God doesn't forget his priority.

The first thing the Bible tells us Noah does is built an altar to the Lord. He doesn't construct a temporary shelter for the night, but he builds an altar to offer sacrifices to God. The first thing Noah does is thank and praise God for delivering them from the flood, and bringing them out of the ark.

How often do we over look this? If we wait for God to speak, and move when He says go, how easy is it to forget to thank Him? Recently I've caught myself almost forgetting to do this. I've started to get caught up in all the excitement that I've almost forgotten to say thank you to the one who made it happen. May we never forget.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor

Wait for God to Speak

"Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 'Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.' So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him." -Genesis 8.15-18

It rained, it flooded. Noah and his family had a floating zoo. And slowly the water begin to subside. The ark comes to rest on Ararat, and Noah begins to send out birds to see if they can leave the ark. Finally, a dove returns with an olive branch, and the next time doesn't come back at all. And then God speaks. He tells Noah to leave the ark, and that is when Noah leaves.

It must have been hard waiting. I've seen a live production of this story, as well as movies, and in every one of them you see panic. Noah and his sons are worried that they will run out of food for the animals, and even talk about having to kill some of them so that they don't starve. But part of me wonders if that happened. But once they hit dry ground again, I'm sure they were anxious to get out. They've been on this boat for close to a year. They've been with a bunch of animals in a floating barn, and it probably smelled like one. They lived in pretty close quarters so I'm sure at times they got on each other's nerves. But even once they got the sign that there was dry land and plant life on the earth, they waited for God to speak.

How often do we do that? How often do we allow God to dictate the timing? How often do we get an idea, and run with it, before we seek God's input? What if we waited? What would happen if in everything we did, we waited for God to give the ok?

Noah walked with God before the flood, before the crisis, and because of that it made trusting Him that much easier during it. And I believe because of that, he was able to wait on God's timing. Before we act, let's wait for God to say go.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor