A New Beginning
Text: Genesis 8
Core Idea: Whenever you feel alone, whenever you doubt God’s love for you, let this passage remind you that God remembers you – that He has never taken His eyes off of you. Then, trusting in His sovereign grace, let’s faithfully walk with God in all that we do – even in our waiting.
INTRODUCTION
Good morning, Lighthouse. Hope you’re all staying safe and warm. Well, the leaders wrestled through this for some time and decided to cancel in-person service for two reasons – first, because of your safety, and second, because there was the uncertainty of Gibson closing. We didn’t want to take that chance and scramble to get a video up at the last minute. So, we made the difficult choice of going fully online today. Thank you to everyone who made this video possible. And even though we’re all worshiping remotely, my prayer for all of us is that God will open your eyes to see wonderful things in the Word today.
Well, as you know, we are currently going through the Book of Genesis – looking at how all things started. And last week, we read about God’s promised judgment as the waters covered the entire world – killing every living thing on the face of the earth. Now, one thing I want to emphasize again is the fact that this isn’t a fable manufactured by the church to teach people a moral lesson – no, it’s a historical event that’s meant to display God’s holiness and His grace. Because our God is unimaginably holy and because our sin is immensely offensive to Him, He could not just passively watch the wickedness of mankind destroy all that was meant to be good. So, ironically, judgment against mankind had brought salvation to the world He loved so much. This is important to point out because it implies that our history should’ve ended right there. Because of our wickedness, everyone should’ve been swallowed up by the flood. But because of His great love for us, God graciously saved Noah and his family through an ark. Now, let’s think about the timeline. We read in Chapter 7 that it rained for 40 days (v. 17) and that the earth remained under the water for 150 days (v. 24) – which means that Noah and his family were in the ark for 190 days. That’s around 6 months. And from the text, there’s no indication that God spoke to them during this time. He didn’t come to ask them, “How are you all doing?” or comfort them by saying, “Everything’s going to be okay.” He remained silent. Then, I wonder if Noah thought to himself, “Why is this taking so long? How long are we going to be here? What’s happening outside? Is the earth still flooded? What’s going to happen to us? Wait, has God forgotten us? Why would He be silent? Did He change His mind at the last minute and decide to judge us after all? But then again, He made a covenant with me. Why would He go back on His Word now? It doesn’t make sense. What is going on?” I’m sure many of us, if not all, have experienced this in life – feeling abandoned as you wait upon the Lord, feeling like He is nowhere to be found. Then, let’s take a look at how God responded in our passage today. Please turn your Bibles to Genesis 8 – and I will read this for us.
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. 6 After forty days Noah opened a 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 nowhere to perch 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. 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 on 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 land – came out of the ark, one kind after another. 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 humans, even though every inclination of the human 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.”
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Let me point out three things from this passage:
· GOD REMEMBERS
· NOAH WAITS
· GOD PROMISES
1) GOD REMEMBERS
Look at the way this chapter begins – “But God remembered Noah.” Even though Noah may have felt abandoned, God had never taken His eye off of him – God had not forgotten him on the waters. Now, when it says that “God remembered Noah,” it doesn’t mean that even though the ark did slip His mind at times, God still managed to somehow remind Himself of Noah. No, that can’t be true because, think about it – how could a God who knows everything, all of a sudden, become unaware of Noah and the covenant He made with him? It doesn’t make sense. There’s no doubt that God had Noah in His mind all along. Then, when it says that “God remembered Noah,” it simply means that He was waiting for the right time to act. And that’s exactly what we see in other parts of the Bible as well – God acting because He remembers. For example, Genesis 19:29, “So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.” Genesis 30:22, “God remembered Rachel; He listened to her and enabled her to conceive.” In both cases, God’s remembering was always followed by an action. Then, in the same way, verse 1 of our passage is trying to tell us that God was ready to act – He was about to complete the rescue plan for Noah. Verse 1, “He sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.” The fact that the waters receded wasn’t by chance. It’s not like the waters evaporated by natural processes, as the wind just happened to blow over the earth. No, this was a gracious work of the Lord who remembered Noah. In fact, the word “wind” in Hebrew is ruach, which also means “breath or Spirit.” Now, this should remind you of something that we read before – Genesis 1:2, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Just as God sent the Spirit to bring order and life to the earth that was once chaotic and deserted, here, God sends the wind (the same word) over the waters to restore His purpose on the earth and breathe new life again. Do you see that? When the right time came, God remembered Noah and began the work of re-creating the world.
Now, before we look at what happens next, what can we learn from this? It’s that we are not forgotten – that we have never slipped God’s mind, regardless of how we feel at times. The truth is that we go through seasons that make us feel like we’re abandoned. In the midst of our trials and pain, in our confusion and hardship, in our weakness and discouragement, we think that God is not with us and that God has given up on us. When troubles continue and when there’s no sign of things getting better, we begin to interpret our circumstances to mean that God must not be there for us. Why? Because, for whatever reason, we believe that things shouldn’t be this way. We think that we should be happier, healthier, and richer because God is with us. But nowhere in the Bible does it promise us health and wealth as a reward for our faithfulness. In fact, the opposite is true, for Jesus told us that persecution is the normal experience of every Christian (Jn. 15:19). But here’s what God does promise – that He will never lose sight of His people. Psalm 33:18 says, “The eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love.” In fact, Matthew 10:30 reminds us that our God is a God who even knows the number of our hair – implying that He cares about even the smallest details of our lives. He doesn’t pick and choose which part of our lives He wants to be involved in – no, He pays attention to even the most insignificant parts of our lives. Brothers and sisters, we are loved by God, who cares about all that we’re going through in life right now. The pressure from work, the weightiness of parenting, the worries of life that keep us awake at night, the fatigue from our duties and responsibilities, and the feeling of being lost because we’re just not sure what to do with the situation we’re in – yet in all of these big and small moments of our lives, God cares. In fact, He’s not going to wish us better from afar – no, He’ll get close to us to hear our cries and carry us through it. Friends, I pray that this will come as a great comfort to you today. Our God is a God who remembers. When Noah was in the ark being tossed around by the waves of destruction, God remembered him. When Joseph was in prison, being unfairly treated for the crimes he didn’t commit, God remembered him. When David was crying out in repentance of his horrific sins, God remembered him. When Daniel was thrown into a den of lions to be torn to pieces, God remembered him. When the disciples were scared for their lives because of a violent storm, God remembered them. And Christians, when you were at the moment of your greatest danger as the weight of your sin crushed your soul, when there was no way to escape the sting of death, God remembered you. Romans 5:7-8, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Ephesians 2:1-5, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world... All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” Brothers and sisters, “but God” is the phrase we should remember and hold on to in times of darkness and hopelessness. We should cling to this truth whenever we feel helpless and alone, for He will answer at His appointed time. Then, run to Him today, for He will be your peace, strength, and comfort.
2) NOAH WAITS
Verse 4, “On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” At this moment, Noah and his family must have naturally thought that they were getting out of the ark soon. I could imagine them saying to one another, “Wait, did you feel that? We’re not moving anymore. The land must be dry. It’s all over! Praise the Lord! Well, the door should open any time now.” But listen to verse 5, “The waters continued to recede until the tenth month” – which means that they were still in the ark for two and a half months. In fact, verse 6 tells us that Noah waited 40 more days before he decided to open a window to conduct a series of experiments to check if it really was okay to leave. First, he sent out a raven. The Bible doesn’t tell us why a raven was chosen to be sent out – but the fact that it never came back must have caused Noah to think that some parts of the land were indeed dry. Think about it – if it wasn’t, the raven would’ve come back since it can’t find a place to settle down. Now, to confirm his theory, Noah sent out a dove. But verse 9 tells us that the dove returned to Noah because it could not find a place to land. Then, we can’t help but ask, “Wait, what about the raven? Why didn’t the raven come back if there was nowhere to perch?” Well, some scholars speculate that it’s because a raven is a scavenger bird in that it feeds on the decaying flesh of dead carcasses – so it didn’t come back because there was enough “food” for the raven floating on the waters. In other words, the waters were receding, but the earth was not inhabitable – it was still dead. So, Noah waited seven more days before sending out the dove again. When the dove returned in the evening, it brought back a freshly plucked olive leaf – implying that life was beginning to form again. That was a sure sign that it was safe for them to leave the ark. But Noah didn’t get off right away. Verse 12 – he waited seven more days and sent the same dove out again. This time, the dove didn’t come back. Now, at this point, Noah must have been pretty sure that the earth was ready to receive them. But he continued to wait. Verse 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. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.” He waited almost two more months in the ark. Why? Because he was waiting for God to speak. John Calvin said, “Why does Noah not budge from the ark? Because he is waiting for God to give him permission to, because God had closed the ark behind him. He had enjoyed the blessing of having God as the Protector of his life. He does not now wish to take a single step or make any move until God says to him, ‘Go out.’” Isn’t that amazing?
Noah was setting us an example of what it means to wait upon the Lord. Even though he must have thought that the time had come for them to exit the ark, when God remained silent, he concluded that it wasn’t the right time – so he stayed and waited. Do you know what this reminded me of? Genesis 6:9, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” That’s exactly what he was doing here. Noah walked faithfully with God by building the ark even though it took years to finish it. He walked faithfully with God by testifying to the coming judgment even though he must have been ridiculed and persecuted by the people. He walked faithfully with God by entering the ark even though there was no guarantee that this flood would actually come. He walked faithfully with God by waiting for God’s permission even though he must have felt like the right time had already come. And he walked faithfully with God by exiting the ark even though he wasn’t sure what lay ahead of him. All that to say, Noah walked faithfully with God in all circumstances – even in waiting.
Let’s be honest – learning to trust God’s timing is not easy, which is why we have a hard time waiting. It’s not easy because His timing often doesn’t make sense to us. We think that God should’ve acted by now because we can’t see any other way. And when God remains silent, we get so easily tempted to question His goodness and love for us – “God, I know You see that I’m in trouble. But why aren’t You doing anything? Why aren’t You getting involved? I don’t understand. Is it really because You don’t care about me? Help me understand.” Now, nowhere in the Bible does it tell us that God will explain everything for us to help us understand all that He’s doing – but it does command us to trust Him. Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Now, if you’re having a difficult time trusting God, reflect on these passages. Isaiah 46:9-10, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please’” – meaning, He’s sovereign in all He does, and nothing will thwart His plans. Do you need more reasons to trust Him? Isaiah 55:8, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways” – meaning, His wisdom (and, therefore, His timing) is supremely superior and better than ours. One more passage, Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time… no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” – meaning, even though we may not fully understand, everything God does is always beautiful and appropriate. Friends, God’s grace is never late – His timing is always perfect. Pastor Mark Vroegop said, “Waiting on God means I learn to live on what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life. It means focusing my heart on who God is, what He’s like, and why He can be trusted – even in the tension-filled uncertainties of life.” Then, let me ask you, “Are you waiting for God’s rescue, God’s provision, God’s confirmation, God’s sign, or God’s response today?” If so, learn to wait like Noah. Don’t let your impatience lead you away from the Lord. Don’t let your restlessness cause you to sin. But look to the One who sovereignly orchestrates and governs every moment of your life. Trust God, wait for His Word, and be ready to stay if God calls you to stay, but also be ready to go whenever and wherever God calls you to go. This is how we wait. Don’t give up too quickly – don’t be discouraged that God is silent, for He will speak to you at the right time. In fact, when He does, you’ll come to realize that that truly was the perfect timing.
3) GOD PROMISES
Imagine this scene with me. Verse 15, “Then God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 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 on it.’ So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds came out of the ark, one kind after another.” Can you imagine what Noah must have felt entering a new world that had been cleansed in every way? It must have left him speechless – overwhelmed with wonder and gratitude. In fact, the readers must have noticed that this resembles the creation story. Think with me. As I mentioned earlier, on the first day of creation, God’s Spirit hovered above the waters, and in verse 1, we saw the wind blowing across the flood. The second day of creation established the boundary of the sky, and in verse 2, we saw the floodgates of the heavens being closed. Day 3 of creation saw the dry land forming out of the seas, and in verse 14, we saw the dry land appear as the waters receded. Days 5-6 of creation saw the birds, animals, and mankind being created, and in verse 19, we saw all the living creatures entering the new world again. And just as God commanded mankind to be fruitful and increase in number (Gen. 1:28), God says the same thing again in verse 17. This is no coincidence. God wanted us to see that this was a new beginning for His creation.
Now, as much as this has been a glorious moment for Noah, he must have also been filled with a little bit of fear. Think about it. God had just wiped out everything because of the wickedness of mankind. And even though he was graciously saved, Noah knew that he was still a sinner – he knew that his family wasn’t perfect. Then, he must have thought to himself, “Wait, are we going to do this again in 10 years, 50 years, 500 years? Is God going to bring another flood to destroy everything if we don’t get our act together?” So, the first thing Noah does is seek God in worship. Verse 20, “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.” Now, when it says that Noah sacrificed burnt offerings, it means that the offerings were completely incinerated to represent total surrender. Noah was basically saying, “All my life is Yours, God. Have all of me, for I belong to You. My life is in Your hands. Do what You please.” Verse 21, “The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in His heart.” Noah’s faith and obedience had pleased the Lord – and because He was satisfied, God resolved to do two things. First, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans,” in that He wasn’t going to bring about another flood that could wipe out every living creature. Now, it’s important to point out that this wasn’t because mankind had somehow turned a corner when it came to sin – not at all. In fact, the opposite is true – God says in verse 21, “[I won’t curse the ground] even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.” In other words, He was basically saying, “I know that the flood is not the solution to your sins, for it did not make you clean inside. I know you will continue to be evil in every way. So, I’m not going to come at you with another flood because I don’t want to go through this again – which is why I will no longer come to you in judgment but in mercy. I will be patient with you – and one day, I will send you the serpent-crusher whom I promised your forefather, Adam, so that He can perfectly, once and for all, set you free from the penalty, power, and presence of sin. Until then, I’m not going to give up on you. I will make a way. I will save you.” Now, this doesn’t mean that there won’t be any more floods – which is why the second thing He promises is this, verse 22, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Yes, floods may come, but it won’t be enough to disturb the pattern of His creation. God will allow the cycles of life to continue because His desire is to bless mankind with many things. Then, the fact that we can enjoy all four seasons shows us that God is still patient with us. (So, enjoy this snowstorm.) The fact that we have another day to enjoy is a sign of His mercy for us. Brothers and sisters, I point this out because it tells us that God doesn’t have His arms crossed and His back turned against us – impatiently waiting for us to make a mistake so that He can come to punish us and pour His wrath against us. No, that is not His disposition toward us. Instead, His arms are wide open to embrace us when we come and catch us when we fall.
Now, some of you may be thinking, “Sure, this could be true for others, but it can’t be true for me. I’ve done some horrible things. I’m too far from God. I’m still drawn to this world. I struggle with the same sin. How can God love someone like me? There’s no way His disposition is that of mercy and grace.” If this is you, you’re right in that if it was all up to you, you wouldn’t be able to escape His judgment – which is why God sent us Jesus the serpent-crusher. He didn’t come to be served but to serve. He didn’t come to judge but to be judged. He didn’t come to be lifted up in glory but to be crucified in shame. Why? So that He can do what the flood could not do – cleanse us from the inside out by becoming sin for us. Jesus paid the price of our sins so that we would be set free. Now, this doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want with the freedom that Christ has earned for us. Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.” We’re now called to live for the Lord. Then, just as Noah did, surrender yourself to God and say to Him today, “All my life is Yours, God. Have all of me, for I belong to You. My life is in Your hands. Do what You please.”
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, whenever you feel alone, whenever you doubt God’s love for you, let this passage remind you that God remembers you – that He has never taken His eyes off of you. Then, trusting in His sovereign grace, let’s faithfully walk with God in all that we do – even in our waiting.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) What does it mean when it says that “God remembered Noah”? Can you think of a time in your life when you felt forgotten by God? How does this passage challenge that feeling?
2) Why do you think Noah waited for God’s command to leave the ark, even when the land appeared dry? How does Noah’s patience reflect faith and trust in God? What can we learn from his example? What are some practical ways we can cultivate patience and faithfulness while waiting on God?
3) Why do you think God promised never to destroy the earth in such a way again, even though human sinfulness remained? How does God’s patience in allowing the cycles of nature to continue demonstrate His mercy?