Genesis 5:1-7:24; Matthew 3:7-4:11; Psalm 3:1-8; Proverbs 1:10-19
I've got a Noah. He's turning 12 in two days. Hard for me to believe! I remember, of course, the day he was born, which was also my Grandma Sunukjian's 89th birthday. I called to tell her that I was giving her a new great-grandson for the occasion. I remember, too, that it rained and rained that first week we were a family of four. Of course, we joked about the namesake being a little too appropriate, but we loved the rain and our new baby and feeling a little more prepared the second time through the newborn-phase.
I didn't read the One Year Bible that year. I've read it most of the years since that boy was born, and I am always struck by his namesake. Oh, how I pray for my Noah to be like that Noah. Yes, I love Genesis 6:8-9, where God favors Noah, where Noah is blameless, and, yes, I pray those verses for my son (and his brothers and sisters). I read Genesis 6:22 and 7:5 and pray that our Noah would do all that God commands him.
Many times, though, I read this narrative in complete awe. What an incredible thing God said to Noah: "I am going to bring floodwaters...but I will establish my covenant with you" (Gen. 6:17-18). It must have seemed impossible, improbable, outrageous to Noah. A flood? To cover the earth? To kill everything and everyone? An ark? Animals? Are you serious, God? We don't see anything of that in Noah's response to the Lord, however. We see Noah act in obedience. He believed impossible things of God and acted accordingly. He built that ark, he collected the animals, he loaded his family.
And then, those eerie words: "Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark" (Gen. 7:23). The impossible thing that God asked of Noah came true. Noah experienced Psalm 3:8 - deliverance came from the Lord, and God's blessing poured out on Noah. (Sneak peek for tomorrow's reading: "But God remembered Noah..." [Gen. 8:1].)
So most often I pray that my son and his siblings will believe the impossible things that God asks and promises and that they will act in response. I think I need to start praying the same for myself!
God's blessing waits for me when I do.
I've got a Noah. He's turning 12 in two days. Hard for me to believe! I remember, of course, the day he was born, which was also my Grandma Sunukjian's 89th birthday. I called to tell her that I was giving her a new great-grandson for the occasion. I remember, too, that it rained and rained that first week we were a family of four. Of course, we joked about the namesake being a little too appropriate, but we loved the rain and our new baby and feeling a little more prepared the second time through the newborn-phase.
I didn't read the One Year Bible that year. I've read it most of the years since that boy was born, and I am always struck by his namesake. Oh, how I pray for my Noah to be like that Noah. Yes, I love Genesis 6:8-9, where God favors Noah, where Noah is blameless, and, yes, I pray those verses for my son (and his brothers and sisters). I read Genesis 6:22 and 7:5 and pray that our Noah would do all that God commands him.
Many times, though, I read this narrative in complete awe. What an incredible thing God said to Noah: "I am going to bring floodwaters...but I will establish my covenant with you" (Gen. 6:17-18). It must have seemed impossible, improbable, outrageous to Noah. A flood? To cover the earth? To kill everything and everyone? An ark? Animals? Are you serious, God? We don't see anything of that in Noah's response to the Lord, however. We see Noah act in obedience. He believed impossible things of God and acted accordingly. He built that ark, he collected the animals, he loaded his family.
And then, those eerie words: "Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark" (Gen. 7:23). The impossible thing that God asked of Noah came true. Noah experienced Psalm 3:8 - deliverance came from the Lord, and God's blessing poured out on Noah. (Sneak peek for tomorrow's reading: "But God remembered Noah..." [Gen. 8:1].)
So most often I pray that my son and his siblings will believe the impossible things that God asks and promises and that they will act in response. I think I need to start praying the same for myself!
God's blessing waits for me when I do.
- Sarah Marsh
Thank you for your post today, I am really enjoying the blog.
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