Advent Day 2 : God saves Noah from the Flood

Scriptures: 

• Genesis 7:1-6; 20-24: The Deluge 
• Hebrews 11:7: Faith

Ornament: Rainbow

1. The Deluge: Genesis 7:1-6; 20-24

• This is not a hard concept to believe in. Evidence of a world wide catastrophe is everywhere. . Something happened, and it happened everywhere. If you want more on this subject, head over to the Institute for Creation Research or Answers in Genesis, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to prove whether or not it happened. To my satisfaction, it's already been proven. So. Much. Evidence!

• The bigger question for me is this. Why would God do this horrible thing! Men, women, and children died! All the children on the face of the planet were swept away in the deluge! As a mom, that's hard for me to take. Ingrained in my memory from childhood is the image of a flood scene with the ark in the background and a desperate hand reaching out of the water holding up a baby as long as possible. That's tough to process! But it's also an incorrect image. 

• I can't presume to understand God's motivation, but I know this; God looks at hearts and is a better judge than I. Genesis 6:5 says God looked at the hearts of these people and, "every intention of the thoughts of his {humanity} heart was only evil continually." Did you catch that? You think things are bad now? We don't hold a candle to Noah's day and age! In most Western Civilizations, you have people of all walks of life that treat each other with care and respect. But we cannot apply our modern western mindset (that has been influenced by Judeo-Christian values for a few hundred years) to this Era. At that time, even the women and children didn't have a single nice thought at any point in time. My image of a mama desperately trying to save her child is inaccurate. Given the nature of the people at this time period, the mom would be trying to use her baby as a flotation device to save herself. I know that sounds harsh, but that is the cold hard truth about our own human nature. History is riddled with examples of just how depraved we can be. God also gave ample warning to everyone and they had the chance to hop on the boat, and chose not to.

•  But perhaps even more important to remember is that GOD does not view existence as our short time on earth. God sees existence in eternity. He is more concerned for our souls that will live on forever than He is for our bodies which are temporary. He also knows everything; past, present, and future. When you know that about God, you can have a better grasp of this historical account and why He sent the flood. 

• God was seeing whole generations of wicked people growing up, dying, and spending their eternity in hell. Holiness, faith, and good had degenerated to the point were there was only 1 person left in the whole human race that followed the Creator and taught his family to do so. Perhaps God looked forward through time and saw a period when even this small flicker went out, and He saved the light before it was swallowed up in darkness. I don't know. But I do know that this constant and eternal death was not what He wanted for His creation. He had a plan to send a Savior! Unlike us, He could see down the road to more and more whole generations of souls dying and going to hell. So He put a stop to it, and gave us another chance. 

Thank you, God. For giving us another chance. Or everyone alive today might never have existed. 

2. A comment on Faith: Hebrews 11:6-7

• Vs 6: This is such a simple concept, but so many people get it backward. If you want to draw near to God, you have to believe He exists FIRST. He didn't make His existence obscure. It's stamped on every amazing natural phenomena on this planet. It's written in every heart, and He gave us 66 books explaining in full detail what He wants from us and why. 

• Vs 7 tells of Noah's great faith, and that it was by faith that Noah believed God and built an ark to save his house. Noah did not just believe that God existed, he also trusted God to do what HE said and to protect Noah from the flood. For salvation, simple belief in a God is not enough. We must TRUST Him to save us, and believe that He will keep His word.