WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: Imagine yourself shut in a closed space with no one but God for company. Relationship with God When Christians study Genesis, much time is often spent discussing how literally these famous stories should be understood. Were there kangaroos in Noah’s ark? Personally, I believe a different type of question is more useful in equipping us for our own journeys of faith (2 Timothy 3:17). What is God trying to tell us here about his relationship with his creation and his people? Mighty and intimate The terrible flood does not only destroy people and creatures. It shakes and overthrows the whole order of the cosmos. Humanity is forced to acknowledge the authority of one infinitely mightier that ‘the heavens’ and ‘the great deep’ (v 11). Yet even as these shattering events are unfolding, we see also the intimate care of God for his own people. He gives his servant precise, practical instructions for survival and then – lovely touch – when Noah has fully complied, he closes the door of the ark himself (v 16). On board It wasn’t a pleasure boat. For some it might have felt like a prison, or even a coffin, but God travels with his people. Through divine grace and Noah’s faithfulness, those who belong to the Lord are held safe while all around, on a scale beyond their comprehension, the natural world they had relied upon is wrecked. Respond: Consider how the position of Noah’s family can be compared to that of the church in our modern world, threatened as we are on so many sides – and pray for the church worldwide. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-01-10