Summer At Sea: Week 2 Day 2

Genesis 8:17-22

17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”

18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds everything that moves on land came out of the ark, one kind after another.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

22 “As long as the earth endures,

      seedtime and harvest,

      cold and heat,

      summer and winter,

      day and night

      will never cease.”

Have you ever had something difficult finally come to an end? Relief is a wonderful feeling, whether it comes at the end of something extremely difficult, or simply the end of a bad cold where you can finally breath again!

Can you imagine that first non-salty fresh breath and the beaming sun after being in the ark for such a long time? The remade world was at Noah and his family’s fingertips; it had to have been one of the most surreal moments in history. Do you think seeing the destruction of God’s creation and that time in the ark felt like that to Noah and his family? They could once again “breathe easy.”  Noah and his family took time for a celebration and sacrifice for all that the Lord had done for them upon exiting the ark. This story can sometimes be difficult to understand and fathom, but how wonderful it is that God lets us spend time in hardship so that we may learn to trust His plan all the more. Like a good teacher, God guides us toward understanding, rather than forcing us to be perfect with no choice.  God lets us grow to become more like Him.