Welcome to Genesis 7! Boy, am I glad to be back in the land of the living after last week. 🙂 Seems like so much is going on right now for so many people, but God is always good. Always. He has proven that to me in the past seven days in ways I can’t begin to describe. His healing on all levels is amazing. Wow…
Genesis 7:15 (GWT)–A pair of every living, breathing animal came to Noah to go into the ship.
Imagine you’re Noah. First, your a God-fearing man in a godless world. Second, you’re an ordinary guy who suddenly hears the voice of God saying, “Hey, it’s never happened before, but water is going to fall from the sky and flood the world. Build a giant boat that’s nowhere near the ocean.” (Not trying to be disrespectful there, just to emphasize how insane that must have sounded coming out of the blue.) Then, just when the weirdness couldn’t get any weirder, here come the animals. Thousands of them. Animals you’ve never seen before. Animals in every color. Animals that make you think, “How am I going to clean up after that?” If Noah had any doubts before, surely they were erased when the first two kangaroos hopped up to his door.
But what about the other people? The ones making fun of Noah and scoffing. Don’t miss this point, because they sure did. When those animals showed up, that was a parade no one could overlook, and yet they did. No one took a step back and said, “Uhm, maybe God is really serious and is about to do what he told Noah He was going to do. Maybe I should repent.” They missed all of the signs, and they paid a terrible price.
What about us? Are we missing the signs? God’s Word is full of truth and prophecy, some of which has come true, and some of which is coming true before our eyes. Yet how many of us, how many in the world, are missing that elephant that’s stomping through our living room? How many of us ignore the ostrich parading down the middle of the highway? We’d like to think the world will see if enough signs come true, but if they missed the animals in Noah’s day, how much more are they going to ignore the warnings in our day?
So what do we do? Right now, I confess to feeling a little bit overwhelmed and at a loss. Know what? Even as I typed that, God said, “I’m not at a loss, nor am I overwhelmed.” He knows. And He’s calling. It’s up to us to see.
-JB
Jessica R. Patch says
“God said, “I’m not at a loss, nor am I overwhelmed.”
I love this!! I can’t even imagine what Noah felt like all those years he built. Wow.
Great one!
Jodie says
Thanks, girl!!!
Dawn Lucowitz says
I am really enjoying finding little “nuggets” that I have never seen before. I had never noticed the end of verse 16 that reads “Then the Lord shut him in.” I have really been thinking about this verse the last day or so and love it. I love the way that God is protecting Noah. Think about it, no human could ever build something that could withstand a storm that God was using to wipe out the earth without God’s intervention. The more I think about this the more comforted I am when it comes to following God’s will in our lives. Noah did what God told him to do, and because it was God’s will, it was going to work out. Noah had to listen and work hard, but in the end, he wasn’t going to mess up because he was following God’s plan. We screw up all the time, even when we mean to be doing good things, but we are human. It’s ok though, because when we are following God’s will and we are lining our actions up with him, even if we mess up in some of the steps, his will is going to win out! This is a comfort to me in stepping out a little further each day in faith. God will shut me in and protect me if I am doing his will
Jodie says
I like what you said! I love that you said being in God’s will doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be easy. It can be HARD, but we’ll succeed if we are where we are supposed to be. If only I could remember that when the going gets tough…
Sandy Rosser says
I can’t say that there is a particular verse that speaks to me in chapter 7, but I love the dichotomy of what was going on among the occupants inside the ark and the ordeal of turmoil that was happening outside the ark. Isn’t that how is always is when we’re in God’s will? The rest of the world can go crazy and we’re safe in His arms.
Sandy