He remembers

DEVOTION

GENESIS

HE REMEMBERS

Gen 8:1-5

8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

NIV

Why our scholars are so concerned about the wind, explaining it in human terms the question about God remembering Noah has escaped them. In order for God to remember Noah it would appear he must have forgotten about him. Did God, could God actually forget about Noah? He was the one man who found favor in his eyes while the whole rest of mankind had turned their back on him and became so wicked he wiped them off the face of the earth. How could he forget about Noah? Could God, who knit him together in his mother’s womb forget about him? How could God, who knew every hair on his head forget about him?

Ps 139:13-16

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

NIV

Matt 10:30-31

30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

NIV

Surely God did not forget about Noah and we can also be sure that God never forgets about us as well. This is our first and most likely the most important lesson for us today. It is just impossible that God was so busy being God, after he had just caused such a flood upon the earth and wiped all living things from the face of the earth that he forgot about a little boat being tossed to and fro on the waves of water that covered all the earth. But alas the Hebrew word gives us some insight. Although it is used as to remember, to call to mind, by implication to mention, it also is a root word properly to mean to mark, as to be recognized. Could we say Noah was a marked man? Indeed he was, God had marked him even before the flood. He found favor in God’s eyes. The whole purpose for God to command Noah to build the ark in the first place was to preserve the human line that would bring salvation to all mankind. Noah was righteous in the sight of God, he was a marked man, perhaps marked with something such as the Holy Spirit as we are. Because we are marked by God, if we can use this word, he will remember us on the day of the Lord, when all the earth will be destroyed. God is not so busy that he forgets about us, he simply has already marked us, sealed us with the Holy Spirit. He never forgot about Noah and so he caused the waters to begin to recede. The storm was over and it was going to become a new place for Noah, everything will be new. Just as when he calms the storms in our lives, he causes it to stop and recede until all is new again. We will see the method Noah uses to know when it is safe to leave the ark a little later, but we can be sure Noah knew God’s hand was at work. God had told him exactly how long the rain would be, forty days and forty nights. He knew how long the storm would be and thus he must have counted each of them and knew as the storm ceased, God’s hand was at work, just as he told him. We can also see the hand of God at work in our lives each day, we can count them. God would never leave Noah alone, he would never have forsaken him.

Deut 31:8

8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

NIV

Heb 13:5

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you ; never will I forsake you."  

NIV

God never forgot about Noah, never left him to be tossed around on the waves of water. God never forgets about us. He never leaves us to be tossed about by the troubles of life. He was with Noah and he is always with us. We have nothing to fear. We have nothing to be afraid of. We have to know that Noah had complete confidence in God, having been told exactly what God was going to do, seeing it done just as he said and so he had to know that God would also complete the work he started in him.

Phil 1:3-6

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

NIV

God will always complete the work he began, as in the days of Noah, he stopped the storm as he said he would and he began the waters to recede as he said he would and he will complete all he said he would in the life of Noah. He does the same thing in our lives, he never leaves us, he never forsakes us, and he knit us together in our mother’s womb, knowing each hair on our head. As with Noah, we can have this confidence in God, he will complete his work in our lives. God marked us, he remembers us.