Do you ever feel the future is bleak? Do you ever wonder where God is amidst the apparent hopelessness? Genesis tells us about Noah being in a bleak situation and the ending of his story can guide and comfort us when we find ourselves in situations that appear to be hopeless.
Let’s start with Genesis 6. What was God’s opinion of the earth? Notice the word corrupt.
Gen. 6:11 ¶ Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.
Gen. 6:12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
Yahweh realized the earth was corrupt. What did Yahweh decide to do about the corruption?
Gen. 6:13 ¶ Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
Gen. 6:14 “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.
Gen. 6:15 “This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
Gen. 6:16 “You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
Gen. 6:17 “Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.
Gen. 6:18 “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
Gen. 6:19 “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.
Gen. 6:20 “Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.
Gen. 6:21 “As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.”
Gen. 6:22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
Because of the corruption, Yahweh decided to destroy the earth; however, He offered to protect Noah. God told Noah to build an ark that would protect him during the flood.
Next, the opening verses of Genesis 7 tells us about Noah entering the ark. How long would the rain last?
Gen. 7:1 ¶ Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.
Gen. 7:2 “You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female;
Gen. 7:3 also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.
Gen. 7:4 “For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.”
Gen. 7:5 Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him.
Yahweh told Noah that the rain would last 40 days and 40 nights. Now we read about the flood itself. Notice the totality of the destruction.
Gen. 7:6 ¶ Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth.
Gen. 7:7 Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood.
Gen. 7:8 Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground,
Gen. 7:9 there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
Gen. 7:10 It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth.
Gen. 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.
Gen. 7:12 The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
Gen. 7:13 ¶ On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark,
Gen. 7:14 they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds.
Gen. 7:15 So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life.
Gen. 7:16 Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him.
Gen. 7:17 ¶ Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth.
Gen. 7:18 The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.
Gen. 7:19 The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.
Gen. 7:20 The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.
Gen. 7:21 All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind;
Gen. 7:22 of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.
Gen. 7:23 Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.
The flood was so comprehensive that there was no dry land anywhere and every living thing that was living on land perished.
God had told Noah that the rain would last 40 days. However, when the rain stopped after forty days, the water that had already fallen was still there. Look at the next verse. How long was Noah and his family on the ark?
Gen. 7:24 The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
150 days is a long time to be on a boat. Did Noah and his family ever worry that the flood would never end? Did they worry about running out of food? Did they start to believe the future was bleak? With those questions in your mind, read the next set of verses. Notice the first sentence.
Gen. 8:1 ¶ But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.
Gen. 8:2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained;
Gen. 8:3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. Gen.
8:4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.
Noah was in a circumstance that surely seemed bleak. There was no dry land anywhere, everything was destroyed, and Noah was stuck on the ark for months. However, God remembered Noah and eventually circumstances improved.
As we go through life, we are often in situations that seem bleak and hopeless and we start to wonder where God is. However, just as God remembered Noah, so too the following verses remind us to stop worrying because God remembers us and knows our needs.
Luke 12:29 “And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.
Luke 12:30 “For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.
Luke 12:31 “But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
Will you help pray?
Please pray that Noah’s story will remind people to stop worrying and instead remember that God will provide their needs.
“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.”