And Noah Lived AFTER the Flood

Genesis 9.  Of all the things to ponder from this chapter--God telling Noah and his family to go populate the earth, God giving them everything for food, God declaring that man is precious because he is made in God's image, the rainbow as a symbol of God's covenant between Himself and every living creature, and the weird story of Noah's drunkenness and how differently his sons handled that.  I am not going to blog on any of that.

What I am going to blog about goes along with the theme of us walking with God for all our life.

Verse 28, "And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years."

Noah LIVED after the flood. Noah had lived 600 long years before the flood.  He had walked with God.  He had heard God's voice that told him every step of how to build the ark to protect himself and his family.  Surely, Noah had been a witness for God for his generation to escape the terrible flood.  Surely he told others how to escape God's wrath, but I guess they all ignored him and made fun.

Then he lives on the ark with his family and animals for a year.  He watched the flood come for 40 days and nights.  He watched earth as he knew it be completely destroyed.  He watched what was once his beloved land and home disappear in the flood.  He surely watched friends and acquaintances perish in this awful flood.

Then after the flood consumed everything he used to know of the earth he had lived in for 600 years, he still had to stay in the boat until everything dried enough for him to get out.  I am sure that waiting had to be horrible.  Talk about cabin fever!  I am sure he wondered if he would ever be out of this long "flood trial".

I think it is interesting to note how the Bible says Noah lived 350 years after the flood!  What an encouragement for us to press on through difficult trials!  There may be life on the other side of the flood!  In fact, there may be long life after the flood.

Keep walking with God, my friends.

"So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died."

God Remembers Us

After writing yesterday about God's invitation for Noah to come into the ark, I was blessed this morning upon entering the church I was playing piano at when I saw the stained glass above the entry door.  Inscribed were these three words: Come Unto Me.  I love the way the Bible is one complete book and what I am reading in the Old Testament can easily be tied into New Testament truths.  Seeing that today as I walked into the church, was just a reminder to me that God calls us all to come to Him--even in this day and age.  He is that ark of safety in which He invites us to come continually--and rest.  Read the whole verse, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."(Matthew 11:28)

Another verse I came across this morning in church that I felt tied in well to the thoughts of Noah (and us) walking with God is Micah 4:5, "For all people walk each in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever."

Onto today's chapter, Genesis 8. Verses 1-2, "Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark.  And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.  The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained."  The storm was over.  Finally.  I have a friend who when she prays for people often says, "God, please remember so-and-so . . ."  That is always a blessing to my heart that she prays for God to remember what they are going through and to help and bless that person.  It has always reminded me of the song, "Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do remember me . . ."

Genesis 8:21-22, "And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma.  Then the Lord said in His heart, 'I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.  While earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.'"

God promises routine while earth remains.  I can expect times of planting and times of harvesting in my life.  I am seeing that now in my son--I took many years planting and investing in his life, now I am harvesting.  It is nice after years of doing for him things he couldn't do for himself--prepare his own food, drive, wash his own clothes--that now he can! And he can also do these things for me! Wow!

I can expect cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night--there will be good times and there will be times in my life that feel like cold, winter, and night.  It is important to remember the seemingly "bad" times will not last forever.  Life is routine, cyclical.  I need to remember that it is "normal" when what I deem as the "good" times don't last. 

The first solo I ever sang in church was part of the children's song, "I Wonder How it Felt"--
I wonder how it felt to sleep with Noah in the zoo.  I wonder what would come a lion or a smelly kangaroo.   I'm just a child my life is still before me.  I just can't wait to see what God has for me but I know that I will trust Him and I'll wait to see what life will be for me."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW6Rq7dalXU
 (you'll have to listen to the end 2:35 to hear the verse about Noah!) 

Come Into . . . and Be Safe

First a note referring back to yesterday. I realized that I have no idea how long Noah walked with God.  So he may not have walked with God since he was a youth.  He was over 600 years old when he entered the ark, so he could've started walking with God at 300? 400? Haha.  Who knows.  I still cling to Ecclesiastes 12:1--"Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, 'I have no pleasure in them.'"

Onto Genesis 7.  Genesis 7:1--"Then the Lord said to Noah, 'Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.'"  What a sweet invitation Noah was given to come into the ark.  We, too, are given the sweet invitation to come into God's ark of safety (through accepting Jesus into our heart and lives to be our Savior).  It wasn't because Noah was a "good" person; it was because he was "righteous".  Righteous living comes only by walking with God.

Genesis 7:16--"So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in." Noah had nothing to fear at this point.  He was safe in God's care--the provision of the ark.  Once we have given our hearts and lives to Jesus, we don't have to worry about staying "in the ship", God shuts us in.  We are safe.  He will bring us safely home to Heaven with Him.

We, like Noah, come into the ark with a step of faith.  Once in, like Noah, we are kept safe by God's grace.

Today and tonight I am praying for a friend of my best friend.  Her name is Tasia.  She is 44 and since last night has been on a ventilator.  If she leaves this world soon, she will leave behind an 11th grade daughter and 7th grade son.  I am praying for a miracle of life for Tasia tonight.

Walking with God

Genesis 6.  The beginning of the story of Noah and God's ark of protection.

What stood out to me today-- Genesis 6, the last part of verse 9, "Noah walked with God."

The result of Noah walking with God? God protected Noah and his family from the flood He sent to destroy mankind.  God provided a way of escape--an ark of protection.  Noah had to build it, but God showed him how and gave him the courage and strength to do it.

If there is one thing I wish I could get across to every young person I teach it is that following God (even from a very young age) is always the right thing to do.  Following God brings protection and blessing.  At least I have found that to be true in my own life.

I must admit it disturbs me a little to hear some "grandiose" testimonies of how far someone sank into sin before coming to Christ.  Don't get me wrong.  I am so glad their life has been changed by Jesus.  I just feel like sometimes Christians who listen to testimonies like these, think their testimony is not as "great" because they never sank into the same depths of sin.  But, ALL of us need the Savior. You don't have to greatly stray to need His forgiveness and salvation.

Walking with God brings protection.  I think this is some of what Genesis 6 teaches.  I wish to save young people much grief and pain that not walking with God brings.  It is great to walk with God later in life.  It is great to walk with God anytime.  But, if God has opened your heart and life to Him at a young age--don't ever stop walking with Him.  There is nothing to learn by following after sin for a period of time to see what it's like.  Your testimony is not of how great you have turned around.  Your testimony is of how greatly God has redeemed you--and the cost of His redemption is the same for us all.

Stepping off that soapbox now.

Today I was able to personally speak with every member of my immediate family either in person or by phone.  I physically heard each of their voices--husband, son, mom, dad, sisters, and brothers.  I was able, as well, to text some of my closest friends.  I am touched by their own walk with God.  Their walk with God has certainly affected my walk with God.  Each one of these dear ones is different and unique in their walk with God.  Their prayers with me and for me, and their conversations with me have helped shape my walk with God.

Noah's walk had an impact on the salvation of his entire family after him.  I do wonder though about if Noah's parents were still alive.  I don't remember seeing a mention of them entering the ark.  Were they part of the mankind God was ready to destroy? Had they already passed away? Did they influence Noah's walk with God--perhaps leading him to walk with God or were they so far away from God that Noah knew to walk with God instead?

On last Sunday morning our church sang, "O may those who come behind us find us faithful."  May our walking with God never cease.  

God's Way or the Highway

I'd like to start today's blog by just thanking God publicly for private prayers answered.  Not everything needs to be facebooked, twittered, or blogged about. But it is so precious to me that God sometimes grants a very small desire of my heart.  A quick prayer uttered that wouldn't be devastating if He responded "No" and He sweetly responds "Yes".  I think, even to the point of turning "the heart of a king." (Proverbs 21:1--"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.") So thank you God for blessing me ever so sweetly.  I love You.

Now, onto Genesis 4. All my life, I struggle with this passage--always forgetting who gave the appropriate offering--Cain or Abel? Always forgetting who kills who.  I think I got it now!  Cain offered his good works.  Abel offered the blood sacrifice.  It is only through Christ's blood that we can be saved.  This is a beginning of that picture.

I didn't come up with all that on my own.  Once again, the Adrian Rogers Legacy Bible really helped me out.  Here's what Pastor Rogers had to say about Cain's offering:  "He brought the best fruit of his labor to worship God--the most beautiful flowers, the most fragrant herbs, the most luscious vegetables and ripest fruits.  He propped them up before the Lord as His offering.  His spread must have looked like a county fair.  But Cain represents salvation by works, where he tries to be right with God by what he does.  Cain's idea of worship did not come from the revealed word of God.  It came out of his own noggin, his own ideas.  So here is Cain with his own manmade religion, with his works and rituals.  Oh, it was beautiful.  It was cultured.  It was gorgeous.  It was sacrificial, but it was not accepted."

So Cain didn't follow God's way.  You know what happens? He was sent packing--listen to what Cain says in Genesis 4:14, "Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me."

But, even then, God amazingly shows His mercy to Cain because after Cain complains, God lovingly at least puts a mark on Cain and says anyone who harms Cain, "vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." (Genesis 4:15)

I have to close today with 2 verses of the hymn "Rock of Ages" --

"Not the labor of my hands can fulfill Thy law's commands;
Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress; helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die."

Good is Not Good When God Has Said "No"

Today's Bible reading is Genesis chapter 3.

"For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.  She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." Genesis 3:5-6

So much stood out to me in these two verses.  This passage is so applicable in every day world situations.  I see things in the world that to me are good, pleasant, and desirable.  The only problem with these "things" is that God has said "No" to these things.  God's wisdom versus man wisdom.  It may not make ANY sense at all to me why God would say no to the things that to me look good, pleasant, and desirable.

The question then comes down to--will I obey what God has told me to do? (God's wisdom). Or, will I think that perhaps God is wrong this time and this good, pleasant, desirable thing is going to be good for me despite what God has said. (Man's wisdom).

That's what Eve did, "she took of its fruit and ate."

You know what else she did? She gave it to someone else (her husband) and he ate.  When I choose not to obey God, I often encourage others not to obey God either.

Also today from the Adrian Rogers Legacy Bible, "Don't put a question mark where God has put a period."  That's how Eve started to get off track.  She was listening to Satan in Genesis 3, verse 1 where Satan (the serpent) asks her, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'"

My prayer for you my friend, is the same as it is for me--God, don't let me question clear commands that You have given me in Your word.  Help me to obey You even when other things look good, pleasant, and more desirable to me than doing what You say.  Forgive me when I put a question mark where You have clearly put a period.  Amen.

2013 Listening for God's Wisdom

Many members in our church have committed to reading a chapter each day from the Bible because we need to know God's wisdom for our lives (see James 3:15-17*). We need more than advice from friends, family, and counselors.  All these sources can be good and helpful, but can never replace hearing God's wisdom from His love letter to us, the Holy Bible.

I have made the commitment to spend time reading a chapter each day this year from God's word.  Today's chapter was Genesis 1.  What spoke to me from the chapter today was that God is not only the God of creation, but He also has order about the things that He does and that He creates.

When I find my life "out of order", could it be that I am neglecting the God of my creation?

Another insight on Genesis 1 from Adrian Rogers (the Adrian Rogers Legacy Bible):  "God does not lie in the realm of proof.  To try to prove God by looking through physical, material things would be like tearing apart a piano trying to find the 'Hallelujah Chorus.'  You don't prove God, and you don't disprove God.  You believe in God.   And if a man doesn't believe in God, it's because he has chosen not to believe in God."

If you are reading this blog, my prayer for you my friend is the same that is for me--that God would give me His wisdom this year on decisions I need to make.  I pray that God will guide me and that I would clearly hear what He is saying to my heart,  know exactly how He wants me to respond, and that I would promptly obey His leading.

*"This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.  For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." James 3:15-17

To join our church on this Bible reading, listening for God's wisdom journey, http://www.fbcsev.org