Written by: Paul Morley

Genesis 7 v 13-20
On that same day Noah and his wife, his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives went into the boat. They had every kind of wild and tame animal, every kind of animal that crawls on the earth, and every kind of bird. Every creature that had the breath of life came to Noah in the boat in groups of two. One male and one female of every living thing came, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD closed the door behind them.
Water flooded the earth for forty days, and as it rose it lifted the boat off the ground. The water continued to rise, and the boat floated on it above the earth. The water rose so much that even the highest mountains under the sky were covered by it. It continued to rise until it was more than twenty feet above the mountains.

Notes
There is an old saying, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, neither was the Ark! 

Every day, during the building, the people would ask, “Why?” “What’s it for?” The answer from Noah, a preacher of righteousness, would have sounded hard, “The End is coming. God is going to flood the earth.” God hates sin, the wrong thoughts, words and deeds we all commit - yet He offers escape to all who turn to him in faith for forgiveness. 

Noah’s words fell on deaf ears.

Do you respond to the change that God asks for or do you turn a deaf ear?

The animals were quicker to get on board than the people. Throughout the Bible, creatures have been obedient to God, donkeys, lions, great fish and even worms obeyed God, but people …. !

Remember anyone could have got on board the Ark. Unfortunately pride, family, friends or just a love of what they were involved in kept them out of the Ark and away from safety. The same is true with Jesus Christ, our Ark of safety. Anyone can believe and trust in Him. 

What’s keeping you from getting on board? Safety isn’t found on the gang-plank, it’s on board the Ark! Even with the movement of so many animals, people just watched instead of acting quickly. Then came the saddest words in the Bible – the Lord closed the door! Now, as the first drops of rain fell and the flood broke, how many thought, “If only I had . . . ”?

God loves people more than pets! He demonstrates that in Jesus dying for you – all you have to do is get on board, before the door of opportunity is closed!

Genesis 7 v 21-24
All living things that moved on the earth died. This included all the birds, tame animals, wild animals, and creatures that swarm on the earth, as well as all human beings. So everything on dry land that had the breath of life in it died. God destroyed from the earth every living thing that was on the land—every man, animal, crawling thing, and bird of the sky. All that was left was Noah and what was with him in the boat. And the waters continued to cover the earth for one hundred fifty days.

Notes
Over the past months we have become familiar with floods. News pictures from England, Africa and other countries have shown the power of water - ruined homes and lost lives resulted. 

Nothing has matched the power of Noah’s flood water, rising twenty feet above the mountains. Why such drastic action by God?

God takes sin, man’s rebellion against him, seriously. He was determined to ‘call time’ on the way things were. People were doing what was right in their eyes rather than doing right in God’s eyes. 

Was God ‘getting his own back’ and extracting some morbid pleasure out of a drowning world? The answer is “No” and “Never”! God created you for fellowship with Himself. Fellowship that Noah and his family were enjoying in the Ark, but remember it was a fellowship open to anyone who got on board. God says in the Bible that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked [Ezekiel 33:11]. The flood and the Ark were drastic action by God to get the attention of sinful human beings.

The death of Jesus in the cross is also drastic action by God to deal with sin. Yours and mine. The cross shows God is not willing for any to perish but for all to have God’s level of life and order in them. 

There was plenty of room on the Ark, there is still room in Jesus for you. Remember Noah wasn’t perfect, just obedient. What about you?

Genesis 8 v 1-5
But God remembered Noah and all the wild and tame animals with him in the boat. He made a wind blow over the earth, and the water went down. The underground springs stopped flowing, and the clouds in the sky stopped pouring down rain. The water that covered the earth began to go down. After one hundred fifty days it had gone down so much that the boat touched land again. It came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month. The water continued to go down so that by the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains could be seen.

Notes 
During the 1970’s I was serving in the Royal Navy aboard H.M.S. Bulwark. During one voyage a storm lasting at least a week lashed the carrier as it journeyed to the West Indies. Steel walkways were damaged, aerials torn off, even the bulkhead in my mess-deck was breached and flooded. The onboard emergency service was tested to the limit A little boat on a big ocean.

How comforting to know God’s Ark didn’t and couldn’t capsize and sink. God knew all about the Ark and it’s crew. His eye was upon them. You may be going through a difficult time, battling some storm of life, facing turbulence in the week ahead. Just as God remembered Noah, so God knows where you are, what you are doing – he remembers you. It is important to remember you are precious to the Lord. Even though you may feel you’re bobbing up and down like a cork in water…. He didn’t lift you from the river to drown you in the sea!

God remembered Noah because it was impossible for God to forget him. God cannot forget His own children. The Lord himself has promised, “I will never leave you or forsake you” [Deuteronomy.31:6; Hebrews 13.5]. His eye is upon you, His spirit is in you, and your name is engraved upon the palm of His hand.

Rest assured that as the waters of the storm go down, just think of the mountain top view you would never have had if you hadn’t ridden the storm with faith in the God who watches over you.

Genesis 8 v 6-12
Forty days later Noah opened the window he had made in the boat, and he sent out a raven. It flew here and there until the water had dried up from the earth. Then Noah sent out a dove to find out if the water had dried up from the ground. The dove could not find a place to land because water still covered the earth, so it came back to the boat. Noah reached out his hand and took the bird and brought it back into the boat.
After seven days Noah again sent out the dove from the boat, and that evening it came back to him with a fresh olive leaf in its mouth. Then Noah knew that the ground was almost dry. 12 Seven days later he sent the dove out again, but this time it did not come back.

Notes
Patience is a virtue. Noah and his family must have had a good dose of patience. Imagine it. Shut up all that time in a boat full of animals. Just waiting - no stereo to listen to, no TV, no Game Boy, nothing except ‘snakes and ladders’ or ‘pin the tail on the donkey’!!

They still had God with them. What would you do and how would you cope if all the things that seem important to you were not there? Its often in those long, tough times that what is in you comes out. Noah sent out a raven, an unclean bird, but it just flew about. Maybe it landed on, and ate from, dead floating things. The dove was different; it couldn’t find a place to land so it came back to Noah and to the place of safety. Which bird are you like, the raven, who does its own thing and goes to and lands on the wrong places, or the dove who knew it couldn’t land on what was available so it flew home to Noah’s Ark. We all have choices about what we do but are you doing and going to the right places.

When the dove was sent out again it found a place to land, vegetation hadn’t been destroyed, and the dove came back with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. That has been a symbol of peace for years. Noah remained patient even though he knew the ground was almost dry. The dove stayed away when it was in a safe place. We should be the same - come back to the ark of safety in Jesus if you’re unsure as to what’s right, check things out with Him. Remember, He cares about you and the decisions you make and places you go.

Genesis 8 v 13-19
When Noah was six hundred and one years old, in the first day of the first month of that year, the water was dried up from the land. Noah removed the covering of the boat and saw that the land was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the land was completely dry.
Then God said to Noah, “You and your wife, your sons, and their wives should go out of the boat. Bring every animal out of the boat with you—the birds, animals, and everything that crawls on the earth. Let them have many young ones so that they might grow in number.”
So Noah went out with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. Every animal, everything that crawls on the earth, and every bird went out of the boat by families.

Notes
Noah was now 601 years old - now that’s some age!

Age plays a big part of life in the 21st century. Noah, today, would have been written off by everyone, “you can’t contribute you’re too old”, “past it old man”. At the same time, if you're under a certain age, in some churches your opinion isn’t considered. Isn’t it great how God overlooks human ‘age prejudice’ and every other prejudice.

Noah is chosen to build the Ark; Moses, at 80, is chosen to deliver Israel from Egypt and Caleb, at 84, is still in the thick of battle. On the other side; God calls Samuel as a boy; Jeremiah is told not to say ‘he is only a youth’; Timothy is a church leader as a youth and Mary, as a teenager, is chosen to carry the Messiah. God doesn’t look on age. He sees every one of us as his children - that makes us forever young.

When was the last time you took time to get to know an older Christian, to learn from them and find out how the Lord Jesus has led, helped and guided them. Many older men and women of God have had an impact on my life. Charlie McLurg encouraged me in my preaching and saw a destiny in God for me before I did. There were others, David Powell, Keith Monument, just to name a few, older, wiser, longer on the road of faith than me and a great encouragement. They were also men who would listen and be prepared to support. Why not enrich your life with a ‘Noah’ who knows God, hears Him and does what He says – your life will be the richer for it!

Genesis 8 v 20-22
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. He took some of all the clean birds and animals, and he burned them on the altar as offerings to God. The LORD was pleased with these sacrifices and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings. Their thoughts are evil even when they are young, but I will never again destroy every living thing on the earth as I did this time.
“As long as the earth continues, planting and harvest, cold and hot, summer and winter, day and night will not stop.”

Notes
Noah built an altar to the Lord. What are you building? 

It would have been easier for Noah to build a house for himself or his children or even a barn for the animals he would keep, but he didn’t. His priority was to build out of sacrifice for the Lord. Noah put himself out! 

When was the last time you put yourself out for someone else or did something that cost you time, energy and something valuable for the sake of the Lord Jesus? It’s so easy to compromise or make our excuses. 

Noah could have done that but he didn’t. He built. He was active, remember he was 601 years old, but still building. His building of an altar and the giving of a sacrifice cost Noah. The easy way would have been for Noah to say, “Well there are not many of these birds and animals about, so I will keep the turkey and the lamb. They will be useful on Sunday with the family”!! But he didn’t. His sacrifice cost but that was the attitude of heart that God responded to. 

God still does the same today. He does good to those who put themselves out for the sake of His Name and His Kingdom. The easy option is to be a ‘watcher’ of work and sacrifice rather than getting involved with the work at hand. God wants you involved, are you? Or are you more interested in who’s number one in the charts, following the soap opera or obtaining the latest fashion items.

All these things will come to an end but, like planting and harvest, what God blesses won’t end and I want to be part of that. What about you?

Genesis 9 v 1-6
Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Have many children; grow in number and fill the earth. Every animal on earth, every bird in the sky, every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will respect and fear you. I have given them to you.
“Everything that moves, everything that is alive, is yours for food. Earlier I gave you the green plants, but now I give you everything for food. But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it, because blood gives life. I will demand blood for life. I will demand the life of any animal that kills a person, and I will demand the life of anyone who takes another person’s life.
“Whoever kills a human being will be killed by a human being, because God made humans in his own image.

Notes
Human beings are no accident. The Bible says you are fearfully and wonderfully made [Psalm 139:14], designed by the Creator of the universe. Not the result of a ‘big bang’ or of some evolution programme, but designed by God. Yes, you’re special. Special to God.

That’s why God puts such a high value on human life. Animals and plants for food but human life is sacred to the Lord God. That’s why taking of human life, whether by abortion or euthanasia is contrary to God’s Laws. God values every human being because we are made in God’s image. God blessed Noah (v1), when God blesses it means ‘he speaks well of because he wants the best for’. The same is for you. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians Chapter 1 speaks of blessings. God is a God of blessings; he does good and doesn’t treat us as our sin deserves.

God’s favour was upon Noah and his family to repopulate the earth. As you live a life that reflects the goodness and blessing of God, so you can influence those around you. As a Christian, God has called you to a position of influence and blessing - these things flow out of a life that is available to be useful to God’s purposes. 

God’s blessing comes because He is a good God with no evil or wrong intention towards you. He is a God of provision and that covers every aspect of your life. Why not stop and count your blessings and look again at the blessings God has for you and ask, “What’s stopping me from obtaining them?”


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes