One chapter at a time. It forces you to really focus, doesn’t it? Eight weeks in and I’ve already seen more in Genesis than I ever noticed before. God amazes me. It’s not a cliche’; you can read the Bible a hundred times and see something different every single time. I love those moments when I read a familiar verse and God drops something relevant to my life at the moment, something that has been hidden from me until needed. God’s cool like that, isn’t He?
Genesis 8:1 (GWT)–God remembered Noah and all the wild and domestic animals with him in the ship. So God made a wind blow over the earth, and the water started to go down.
“God remembered Noah.” (Want to hear something cool, in the Amplified Bible, it says “God earnestly remembered Noah.” LOVE that!) It’s not that God ever forgot Noah. To me, the word here is about how, in the midst of the destruction of humanity and its depravity, he never forgot Noah. He always remembered Noah and his family were there, floating in that boat, likely bewildered and perhaps a little frightened, even in the midst of their extreme faith.
We all know deliverance is a big issue to me, and this week I read something I’d never realized before. I don’t usually go to a concordance for Word Wednesday, but I was looking for something and was in Matthew Henry’s Bible Commentary. He said something interesting about Genesis 8:1: “…God’s remembering Noah, was the return of his mercy to mankind, of whom he would not make a full end. The demands of Divine justice had been answered by the ruin of sinners. God sent his wind to dry the earth, and seal up his waters. The same hand that brings the desolation, must bring the deliverance; to that hand, therefore, we must ever look. When afflictions have done the work for which they are sent, whether killing work or curing work, they will be taken away.”
I love that! I’m not even sure I can add to that. To be honest, I’m not even sure I want to add to that. As someone who was afflicted and delivered, Henry’s commentary blows my mind. And there it was tucked into Noah’s story in a way I’d never really considered before. Deliverance is everywhere in the Bible. In fact, doesn’t the whole Word point to our ultimate deliverance in Christ? Since so much of God is wrapped up in deliverance, shouldn’t we live lives expecting it and celebrating it? Hm. Something to think about when we’re tossed by storms that seem to have no end.
Even though it’s not Monday, that brings a song to mind. In fact, one of the teachers here played it for devotions this morning. No such thing as a coincidence, is there? God’s fingerprints are all over this one:
-JB
Dawn Lucowitz says
I have been looking at chapter 8 for several days now and I have struggled with it. The verse that I continue to come back to is 21 – The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.”
I guess I don’t like the idea of us being evil beings. I know we are, but for some reason it hurts to hear it from God. My comfort is that even knowing we are evil, God still created us. Even though he knew we would be evil and sin, he still gives us free will. And even though we are evil, he promises not to ever wipe us out because we are that way. He loves us so much he sacrificed his son for us so that even though we are evil we will spend eternity with our Father. That is a love beyond comprehension for me!
Jodie says
It is hard to be called evil. It’s hard when I have to realize I’m not as righteous as I think I am. Boy, our human arrogance can know no bounds sometimes. It’s easy to look at and judge others. Hard to look at and judge ourselves. Ouch.
Sandy Rosser says
In chapter 8, my favorite verses are 20-22 (Noah builds the altar and makes a sacrifice). I love that his first reaction was to thank God. It should always be our first response after God has brought us through a trial.
Sandy
Jodie says
True. It wasn’t to kiss the ground or wallow in the dirt (which he probably really wanted to do, huh?), but to say, “Praise God!” How often do we forget to do that when He delivers us?