Living Respectfully

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

LIVING RESPECTFULLY

Gen 9:20-27

20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." 26 He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.  27 May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave."

NIV

So Noah was a farmer, or at least a vineyard keeper, and one of the first things he did when the time came to make a life in the new world after the flood, was to plant a vineyard. We know that it took many years for the grape plants to grow and to produce a yield of grapes. We also know that the yield of grapes once harvested and processed so stored in some containers to ferment for many years, and all we are told is Noah planted a vineyard and drank too much wine and got drunk. We also know that Noah was a man who found favor with God, who God declared would be saved with his family so they could begin multiplying the new world. Now we have a man who found favor with God getting so drunk he passed out naked in his tent. He certainly would not pass the test today as a man finding favor with some denominations, as well as those believers who put themselves back into the bondage of laws, although, in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he tells them not to be drunk on wine but be filled with the Spirit. The idea is that drunkenness leads to debauchery, at least with those Ephesians. However, the word does not forbid drinking wine, but as with Noah, to be drunk and pass out is not pleasing to God, or at least we believe that is true. We are never told that God rescinded his favor on Noah.  Nevertheless, the response of his three sons also has a lesson for us. Ham was no more than a gossip telling his two brothers about how he found his father. What we do not know is why Ham went into the tent of his father. Was the tent of Noah a private space? What about Noah’s wife, where was she when Noah started drinking so much wine? Is it any wonder Ham did not find any favor with Noah and ended up being cursed? Is that the story we should focus on? If we do not find favor with God we will end up being cursed. That is a truism because the only way to find favor with God is through faith in Jesus Christ. When a person comes to Jesus, accepting him as Lord and Savior, they find favor with God and will enter into his rest. They will be among those who start another new world living in a paradise with God. However, those who, like Ham, who first, showed no respect for his father, then told others about the condition of his father, will find a curse, being sent into the lake of burning sulfur. This is the truth about either showing respect or refusing to respect the Heavenly Father of all mankind. Shem and Japeth gave us the example of being respectful to our Heavenly Father, by how they respected their father. They did not bring shame to, or humiliate him, thus we should live so as not to bring shame upon our Father. It is not about living under the law but living respectfully toward men and God. 

The Heavely Sign

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE HEAVENLY SIGN

Gen 9:8-17

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you — the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you — every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." 17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

NIV

The everlasting covenant God made with every living creature is one of the beautiful signs in the sky during or just after a slight rain shower. The rainbow is a sign that God put there so that both He and all living creatures remember his everlasting covenant. However, man has distorted and captured the rainbow for all sorts of human inventions of hope, love, happiness, and acceptance. Some think when we see a rainbow, it may be a message of hope from a deceased loved one or a guardian angel. It is also thought when we notice a rainbow it could signify, that we are on a spiritual journey. Another writer thinks that in Western art and culture, rainbows are frequently represented as a sign of hope and promise of a better future. The list goes on and on from the human perspective as to the rainbow, but they do not include God in their ideas about the rainbow. However, we know it is all about God, for he made a covenant with us because we are among all living creatures. No matter how severe the weather may get, we can also be sure the earth will never have a flood that destroys all life on Earth. God will also remember his everlasting covenant with all living creatures and it is he who causes the clouds and it is he who causes the rainbow as a sign between him and us. God told Noah that he set the rainbow in the clouds. When we see a rainbow, we know God’s hand is at work. There is no pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, but there is the promise of God, His covenant with us. It does not matter if some fraction of humanity has made the colors of the rainbow their symbol for some alternative lifestyle other than what God established. In fact, there is thinking that if a believer were to wear some clothes that include the colors of the rainbow, it signifies we agree with that fraction of humanity. But God established the rainbow, and it is from God as a sign to us that he would never flood the earth again. We know the truth and we should make sure every time we see that rainbow we tell the story of God. Let the true sign in the heavens and on earth be told that God’s hand is at work. Thank you Lord for your sign to us in the heavens, we will remember it is a sign of your covenant with all of us.

It's Up to Man

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

IT’S UP TO MAN

Gen 9:1-7

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. 4 "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. 7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

NIV

Up until now all living creatures on the earth ate only the vegetation, but now the system we are living under has come into effect. Noah was now allowed to eat the meat of animals as long as he first drained its lifeblood. This most likely meant the whole predator system between all the beasts of the earth went into effect. The lamb and lion lying together was no more. This was also the time God instilled within Noah and his family that killing a man was now forbidden by the law of God. He made it clear to Noah that taking a life would be punished by God and he would take that person’s life. He also reminded Noah, or told him, if he had not already known, that he was made in the image of God. In fact, God was telling Noah that all mankind is made in the image of God and therefore should be respected as God's image bearer. The problem that happened over time, after Noah, was that mankind no longer remembered God and wanted to make gods of their own forms. Isn’t that just like mankind, to think they have control over what a god should look like and behave, which is to just sit there saying nothing and hearing nothing, and not interfering in their way of life? This kind of thinking still exists today with each person forming their own image of a god to worship. Some simply worship themselves, while others worship money, success, fame, and glory. But this worship of self may be the most damaging of all or is at the root of all worship that is not toward the Almighty God, the creator of all that is created. To worship anything or anyone who is not God has its roots bent toward evil. Someday each man must give an account to God. However, this account now is about who accepted and who rejected his grace, who is Jesus Christ crucified for our sins, buried and raised from the dead to ascend to the place of righteousness at the right hand of the Father. Because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior God has declared us holy and blameless and we too will be raised from the dead to live at his right hand forever and ever. This is to the glory of God. However, there is a punishment waiting for those who have made their own gods rejecting the grace of God. They will also stand before him, but only to be sent to the eternal burning lake of sulfur. God will hold all mankind accountable, as it began with Noah, leaving the ark. It is now up to man as to what choice he will make. 

A Pleasing Aroma

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

 A PLEASING AROMA

Gen 8:20-22

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22 "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."

NIV

The last years of Noah had not been the greatest in one respect, and the greatest in another respect. Although God informed Noah of what would happen, he spent a hundred of years at hard labor building, perfecting the largest structure ever done by man. In Addition, he built a boat where there was nowhere in the sight of water and most likely had to endure ridicule by the people whose inclination of their hearts was evil all the time, from childhood, we are now told. Then Noah had to spend all those months closed up in the ark, with all the animals that he and his family most of spent much of their days making sure each animal was fed the right food, which Noah and his family had to gather and put in stores as God commanded. When the rain came and the springs of the deep opened up, and the ark began to float, Noah and his family were now to endure forty days and nights of extreme weather conditions they had never experienced before, with raging waters that must have tossed the ark around. After all that the ark landed on dry ground, God told Noah it was time to get out of the ark, release all the animals, and get on with life. What is the first thing Noah does? He builds an altar to the LORD. Noah praises the LORD; Noah gives thanks to the LORD, with an offering of thanksgiving, a sweet amora of praise that pleased the LORD. Although Noah sacrificed clean animals and birds in praise to the LORD, we have been told to offer ourselves as a sweet amora of praise, a living sacrifice that is pleasing to the LORD. Of course, we have not endured all that Noah did, but we can say that we have had various times when our bodies have not been so kind to us. We have endured pain in our bodies, and pain in our hearts when our family members may go through the valley of death. We may have gone through various hardships in life, but we still have built altars of thanksgiving and praise in our hearts to the LORD. We continue to offer ourselves as a sweet amora of praise to the Father for his great salvation through Jesus on that cross, just as Noah must have felt about his salvation because of the ark God commanded him to build. Let us always be at that altar of praise and thanksgiving to our Lord and Savior and to God the Father and for the Spirit who dwells in us guiding us into all truth. Let us be a pleasing aroma to God. 

Open the Door

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

OPEN THE DOOR

Gen 8:13-19

13 By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you — the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground — so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it." 18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds — everything that moves on the earth — came out of the ark, one kind after another.

NIV

It is amazing just to think about how much water there was to cover all the mountains of the earth and then all that water receded, so the land was completely dry. The surface of the ground was dry, meaning it was a wasteland as the Hebrew word implies. This could have only happened due to the hand of God. However, we also notice that Noah saw the earth was dried up and still did not leave the ark. We also believe he might not have been able to leave as God had shut him and his family and all the living things that were with them when God shut the door. If this door was large enough for the elephants, or wooly mammoths, giraffes, and all the larger dinosaurs, then it would make sense that Noah could not open the door and leave the ark until God opened it. This brings us face to face with the majesty of heaven and earth, the Almighty Sovereign God, who can shut up and open up everything, and everyone who has the breath of life in them. Now it was time for God to open the door and for Noah and his family and every living animal in the ark to leave and go throughout the land and multiply and be fruitful and increase in numbers. We are back to that stay until we are told to go, and we can no longer stay, but we must go because of the command of God. Noah and his family now had to leave the safety of the ark. This ark had been their home for at least five months. Of course, there was most likely still some food supplies left as well as any extra personal supplies they at put in the ark. They could have brought the fire with them for cooking, because the earth may not have produced enough food for them. We are going to see something about food later, but for now let us consider that God had their lives completely within his hands, just as he does with ours. Once again, we believe we are not the captain of our own lives. We have been given life by God as he knit us together in our mother’s womb. He has chosen to what family we would be raised in, just as he chose Joseph and Mary to raise Jesus. He directed our footsteps even if we were unaware to bring us to the place where we could find him, or recognize our sinful state and repent, changing our thinking about our life and God. He has always been involved since, providing our needs, as he did so with Noah, only that time it was with an ark, but this time it was with a cross. However, God also has provided all our other needs, housing, transportation, food, clothing, everything we need to live on the face of the earth and be fruitful. Noah could not have survived without the hand of God, nor can we survive without his hand upon us. We are confident without God ordering our footsteps, shutting us up in the cross, we would perish with the rest of mankind who have made their own gods, refusing the God of glory. Thank you, Lord, for all you do for us, in us, and through us, just as you did for Noah, the man who found favor with you. Thank Almighty God that we have found favor with you. We have no idea where in life we would be if you had not opened that door for us. 

Stay or Go

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

STAY OR GO

Gen 8:6-12

6 After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

NIV

It is a bit strange the way it is recorded, but this raven did not stay flying for some twenty-one days until the waters had completely receded, from the Hebrew text, we find the raven, a carnivorous bird, which is now the new plan of God that we will see when everything and everyone came out of the ark, most likely found food from what was flooding in the waters, and then returned to perch upon the outside of the ark. This view is supported by the flying back and forth in the Hebrew, to and fro. However, we still know all that happened in those days was according to the plan or the will of God. Noah did send forth a dove that was not of the same new nature of the raven, and it needed a branch to rest on or eat from some vegetation as we see it found nothing on the first flight, but seven days later it found an olive leaf. The water had receded enough for olive trees to begin to have new growth. Still, Noah waited. He had not yet heard from God to leave the ark. He will as we will get to in the following verses, but the point we must consider is that although Noah had enough evidence to think the water had receded enough that it was safe to leave the ark, he did not because he has not heard from God that it was time to leave. This truth still should apply to our lives if we are truly followers of Jesus. We do not get to decide when we should stay or go as that is totally up to the will of God for our lives. To stay or go can apply to various aspects of our lives. First, this would mean where we live. This might infer just selling our current home and moving across town, just to live in either a newer, bigger, or smaller house or a new different neighborhood. It could apply to moving completely from one state to another or even another country. It could apply to changing churches or changing a ministry. However, we believe any staying or moving must first result from hearing from God. We know he speaks to us through the Spirit and even at times in an audible voice, or at least a voice inside our ears. However, the main point is that we must want to hear from God and when we do, obey his instructions. If we are just living life according to our plans and desires and just calling ourselves Christians because we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, or because we go to church on Sunday, sometimes, unless we have something better to do, then we might want to reevaluate our life’s focus. Noah stayed until he heard God tell him to go. This should be the way we live, listening for God to tell us to stay or go. 

Our God Reigns

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

OUR GOD REIGNS

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

First, we are not convinced we need that holy but, as the Hebrew word only refers to remember. It might be more correct to say that God remembered Noah. Does that imply that God forgot Noah? That simply cannot possibly be the case, for God never forgets, for if he did, then maybe he lied when he said that he would always be with us and never forsake us. If he finally remembered Noah, then we would have to believe he did forsake him, at least for a while. God remembered Noah, forget the but, as then we could understand that God remembered, as he always knew where Noah was, and watched over the ark, as that was his plan in the first place. Now it was time to make the water recede, so God caused the rain to stop, he caused the springs of the deep to shut up, and over days all the water receded into what we now know as the oceans that take up seventy-four percent the surface of the earth, but their depth or deepest depths have yet to be fully explored, while we live only on the surface of the remaining twenty-six percent and, in fact, less than that, for we do not occupy the high mountains or the great polar regions. All that water receded from the mountains first because of the hand of God. Once again, we are faced with God's Almighty Power and man's powerlessness, for Noah could do nothing but float around in the ark until God did something about his situation. Here is the same situation we find ourselves in today. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. Moses told Pharoah those very words when he said he would pray for the hail to stop. The Psalmist used those same words, and Paul used them in his letter to the Corinthians. Three times we are told the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, all who live on it, meaning us. God is in sovereign control of all things concerning the earth. Man has absolutely zero control concerning the earth, the land, water, and the atmosphere, for man lives on the earth and is completely under the control of God.  He caused the flood, He caused the rain, the springs of the deep to open and he caused the deep to shut up and the rain to stop and the water to recede. There is no doubt in our minds, and our spirit, that our God reigns. Our lives are in his hands, we are his to do with as he desires, for God reigns. He is the one who makes our path straight, He shines the light onto our feet, directing the way we should go, for our God reigns. We are simply to follow Jesus, for our God reigns.