Summer At Sea: Week 1 Day 6

Genesis 8:1-5 (ESV)

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

Today we read about the flood waters on the earth coming to an end; the fountains and the windows are closed, and God sends a wind over the earth. The Hebrew word that has been translated into wind is a word that we have already read a few times this week. It is the same word used in Genesis 6:17, 7:15 and 7:22, where it is translated as “breath of life.” God’s spirit is causing the waters to recede to make a place where all that has the breath of life in it can live once again. He remembered Noah and the covenant He made with him. We also just read that all other life was blotted out. 

This feels uncomfortable to hold both realities in my brain at the same time. Humanity had fully turned their hearts over to evil, so I don’t think God had any explaining to do. I have wondered, however, if God would have given more time or chances if He knew it would make a difference in their lives. These are thoughts I wrestle with to attempt to understand the tough stuff, but usually just end up landing back at a similar place to Job when he said in Job 1:21 that, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” It feels like the best place to land because we can trust God. Why? God remembers His covenants and one is signed in the blood of His own son, Jesus Christ.