As I read through this account today, I imagined how a small group of people on a boat with tons of animals could survive for a year! It had to be God. The logistics of this whole adventure seem a bit grueling, and I don’t want to spend much time speculating on all of the “details.”
We know that other traditions also have a great flood story, but ours is Biblical. God was making a move to fix what had gone wrong. His creation had disappointed him. The time had come to start over. The flood was not just some quirk of nature, but a means to an end. A plan devised by God, the creator. God had great intentions, and Noah was the one chosen to be in the right place at the right time. Continue reading “Genesis 8:1-22 – Persevere All”
When all was ready, when Noah had followed all of God’s instructions down to the letter, God closed the door of the boat. The rain began to fall. The cleansing of the world had begun. What an endeavor Noah had undertaken. Success with the help of God. We hear of no fight or questioning. Noah did as God instructed.
The world was corrupt. All but one man. Noah walked “in close fellowship” with God. Have you ever wondered how that came to be? Was Noah an outcast because he didn’t fit in with the crowd? God sure trusted him. I’m guessing Noah didn’t care about fitting in. He knew what was right.
It’s a big “oops” and I’m sure the people didn’t even realize how the way they were living was frustrating their creator. Have you ever been in a hurry in a store only to come upon someone who is clueless, standing right in the middle of the aisle or walkway? They have no concept of time or space and your impatience makes it seem all the more like they left their brain at home. Well, that’s the kind of ignorance I feel these people had. They were going through the motions of life, more focused on the pleasures they could get rather than their creator and how they could serve him.
This passage has always been curious to me. These guys sure lived long lives (in comparison to what we know today). Again, this detail might stop some people from paying attention and lose the intention of this reading. The art of storytelling is to convey what happened in a meaningful way. Obviously, between Adam and Noah, there were many generations, and to bridge the gap we needed a chapter like this. We can imagine that life continued with people working the land, tending to the animals, and making music.
