Rise & Shine

One-Year Bible: 01/04/2023

Genesis 8:1-10:32

Rise And Shine

“When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” (Genesis 9:16)

The rainbow of the Bible is not about PRIDE but PROMISES.

Perhaps you have heard the phrase “Promises Promises” from someone who is very skeptical about the stated intention or outcome.

Hebrews 11:7 gives us a New Testament view of Noah, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

Can you imagine the looks and jeering that Noah received during the one hundred years that he and his sons faithfully worked on building an ark for the coming flood? Oh, by the way, what was a flood anyway in a land without rain?

Then there were the gigantic stares as they loaded up the ark with animals that paraded on two-by-two. They must have “stuck out” like a dry-docked cruise ship in the desert. Nonetheless, they faithfully followed all God told them to do.

Finally, they were on the boat and sat there for SEVEN LONG DAYS!

Do we think it was easy for Noah to be faithful?

The man was humiliated, “Hangry,” and just plain OLD! As in 500 years old when asked to build the ark and 600 years old when the waters came.

God’s deliverance for Noah and humanity didn’t mean “No Troubles.” Instead, it meant a “Way Out,” “Way Through,” and “Way Home.”

Noah’s lesson to us is that God does not always deliver us from trouble but in the midst of it. Noah was selected because he was a “righteous man,” not a perfect man. He obeyed God and offered a sacrifice on an altar to God when they were safely on dry land.

Chapter 8 begins with, “But, God REMEMBERED Noah…”

As we look at Genesis 8:21-22, we see THREE PROMISES God makes to Noah. First, He will never again curse the ground. Secondly, He will never again destroy every living thing through a flood. Thirdly, God promises that the seasons, night, and day will continue as long as the earth remains.

God makes an everlasting covenant to “all succeeding generations.”

God not only gives them a promise, but He also gives them a command. “Anyone who murders a fellow human must die. If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in HIS OWN IMAGE.” (9:5-6)

The Everlasting Covenant between God and man is a “two-way street.”

We are to be IMAGE BEARERS of the God who created us, rescued us, and placed His rainbow in the sky as a reminder.

Can you imagine that thousands of years from the event of the flood there would be nursery decorations of the ark, animals, and rainbows?

Little children would grow up singing songs about Noah and the Arky Arky, “Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory children of the Lord.”

Promises, Promises…You can count on them; even when the rains come, sin overwhelms, and rainbows appear.

So, Rise and Shine, friend!