April 28
Heavenly
Father,
I can’t imagine
how difficult it must have been for Noah and his family. Not just the time locked away without fresh
air and all those animals, but I think about how they had to grieve when they
heard their friends and family banging on the doors of the ark to get in once
the rain started to fall. They had never
experienced rain before, and it had to be scary to them. Then as the water rose and the banging on the
doors became screams for help and sounds of clawing to try to climb up the side
of the ark to get in. I can’t imagine
the emotional turmoil they suffered listening as the sound became faint and
then disappeared completely.
Did they get
angry with Noah? Did they blame
You? Did they try to open the doors at
first but found God had it shut tight? We
never really talk about what they went through, but I can’t imagine how
difficult it was, but like all the difficult days, it was necessary for Your
plan to be accomplished.
I think about
once the silence settled in and they began a routine of feeding the animals,
cooking food, and trying to find a new normal inside this boat filled with
animals and just a handful of people. As
we experienced during COVID, many times it brings out the worst in us when our
normal is shifted so drastically, and I’m sure they were no different. We all seem to not extend our best selves to
those closest to us. I know that is
something I am guilty of, and I’m sure I’m not alone. I have less patience with family at times and
I really don’t understand why. All I can
do is ask You to forgive me and help me to be a better daughter, sister, wife,
mom and friend.
In Jesus’
name.
Amen!
150 days of rain, flooding and togetherness. Can you imagine how hard it was to be closed up in a huge boat with just your family and lots and lots of animals?
How do you stay focused on God despite the storms raging around you?
Noah was not a young man when all this happened. We can always be obedient to God, not matter the age. What is God asking you to do that might seem as impossible as building a huge boat on dry ground?
The ridicule Noah faced probably ended when the rain drops began to fall. They hadn’t experienced rain before this time and I’m sure there was tons of fear. How do you think Noah and his family got through hearing the people beg to get in as the rains fell, and then the silence that came once the waters had overtaken all people?
We won’t have the warning of raindrops when Jesus comes to get us. How can introduce your loved ones to Jesus in a way they might listen to the gospel?
Verses for April 28
7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. 15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.
17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
Genesis 7:1-24 ESV
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