Saved From Perishing

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

SAVED FROM PERISHING

Gen 7:17-24

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet.     21 Every living thing that moved on the earth perished — birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. 24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

NIV

That is a whole lot of water, when we consider the highest mountain was twenty feet under the water. We are told in Genesis 8 that the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat,  which is in present-day Turkey. Where it was built remains a complete mystery. However, the story is about rain and the flood gates of the deep covering the whole earth so that nothing on the land that had the breath of life in it could survive; everything perished. There are many theories about how everything came to be and how various layers of sediment formed; mostly, those theories come from people who refuse to accept creation by God and use dates of millions of years. But the story of creation holds water, and floodwaters are part of many cultures. We do not know what actually went on within the ark, as the storm raged outside. At some point, as the floodwaters began to rise, the ark started to shift and lift upwards on the surface of the water. We wonder what happened just outside the ark when the rain began- something no one had ever seen before. When it kept raining day after day, and the waters started to rise, could some of the people have screamed at Noah and banged on the ark, wanting him to open the door and let them in? However, God had shut him in; the door was sealed by God. Even if Noah wanted to let them in, he could not open the door. Did he experience pain in his heart, knowing his relatives were going to perish? Was there excitement in the ark, knowing they were safe by the instruction of God? Did they have any fear about the ark holding together in what must have been rough seas? Did the hundred and fifty days of the flood include the forty days and forty nights of rain, or were they counted after the rain stopped? Either way, that was a long time to be within the ark with all the animals. They must have kept busy feeding all the living things in the ark. However, everything was going just as God had planned it; everything was according to the divine will of God. We should take our clue from that singular fact. God is sovereign, and his will is always accomplished. Are we in the safety of the cross because God ordained that we would accept Jesus? Did we have the choice to reject Jesus? Perhaps God caused a rain or floodwaters, metaphorically, in our lives so that we would get into the ark, the cross of Jesus, which he built for us, so that we would not perish. However, we came to be in the ark of safety, the cross; we will be eternally grateful to God for his great mercy, compassion, and love for us, for just like Noah and his family, we have been saved from perishing.