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GENESIS 7–8; PSALM 8

Week 1, Day 5

If Hollywood were telling this story, a large share of the screen time would be invested in scenes of terrifying destruction. Genesis tells us the proportions of the rain (forty days and nights), the total involvement of nature (“the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened” [7:11]), and the long wait for the waters to subside; but there is no description of human terror or of vast areas of desolation.

Instead, the emphasis is on restoration. We are told much about what was saved of both animal and human life, and of the patience and faith with which Noah waited for an end to his journey. Then, a moving interaction between Noah and God. Noah builds an altar and presents a sacrifice to God, and God, in turn, expresses divine pleasure at Noah’s act. Never again, God vows, will there be such destruction; seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.

In this scene of judgment the overriding quality is mercy. Judgment has come so a worse fate can be avoided. God’s judgments are never for pointless destruction or revenge, but for redemption.

So, too, the flood is not an end, but a beginning. And what a beginning it is! A human being in trusting worship, and God responding with the assurance of continuing mercy.

PRAYER: When I face judgment, dear Lord, help me to see it as redemption at work; in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Describe a rainbow experience in your life—that is, an occasion when a time of suffering or trial concluded with a bright new hope.