Noah - Pot of Gold

Genesis 8:20-22 & 9:12-17 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. "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." Chapter 9:12-17 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: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 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. 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." So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

Sometimes we forget all the promises that were given when Noah got off of the ark. God says that as long as the earth endures (still spinning on its axis) "seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease". I don't know about you, but there has never been a time that I've heard of that the sun didn't rise in the morning and set in the evening. Never been a Christmas gone by and the weather hasn't been colder in that month than it was in June. And people try to say that this all "just happened". I am confident, without a shadow of a doubt - even if God calls me home today - that the sun will still rise in the morning and set in the evening.

God gives Noah and his sons their next assignment: Have kids. Rule the animals. The first one sounds like fun, the second one: not so much. God is completely aware of the trauma that this family has gone through. It is so indicative of what goes on today. Just because we're Christians does not mean there is no strife. There IS strife and God is well aware of it. Noah was HONORED because of his relationship with God - he also suffered for it. God knew this and gave, not just Noah, but all of us, a wonderful gift. The Rainbow. It is His promise to us that he will not destroy the earth again with water. It should also be a reminder to those of us who remain faithful - to hang in there - there truly is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - His name is Jesus.

Thank you for joining me as I walked through the story of Noah - I'm excited to see who I'll get to study next!