Summer At Sea: Week 1 Day 5
Genesis 7:17-24 (ESV)
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.
If you have been following along, it will be no surprise that I am going to start by talking about Genesis ch. 1 again. Genesis 1:9-10 states, “And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.” Again, today’s verses feel like the inverse of the account of the creation. God separated the waters of the deep and made a space where plants, birds, creatures, and man could live, but now that dry land is being swallowed back up by the waters; life is no longer possible there, so everything on the face of the ground dies. Where was Noah at this time? He was in the ark, when the waters were rising, they lifted him up. Instead of being swallowed by the waters, he was carried along above them. The Hebrew word used to tell us that Noah was above the waters is the same word used in Genesis 1:2 when we are told that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Noah and those who were with him in the ark were preserved because God lifted them up; He did it then and He is still doing it today.