Day 3 – Genesis 6:11-13, 17-18

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. ¹² God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. ¹³ So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.^[1]

Most of us are well familiar with the flood narrative. God decides to destroy his creation because of the corruption and violence that had become so pervasive. “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (vs. 5). Things had become so unimaginably bad that God was ready to take drastic measures to remedy the situation. Except there was a man by the name of Noah who walked with God, and whom God found to be righteous and “blameless among the people of his time” (vs. 9). It was this man and his family whom God determined He would preserve.

The great truth we should get from this account today is simply this: God cares for the families of those who honor him. The text tells us nothing of the character or faith of Noah’s wife, sons or their wives. Noah was the one who was said to walk with God. He was the one found to be blameless and righteous in his day. But because Noah was the man that he was, with the faith he possessed God included his family in his plan of preservation. The text does not even tell us if his sons assisted him in building the ark, only that “Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (vs. 22).

Many of us are concerned about our children. Though we trained them in the right way to go they chose their own paths and sometimes those choices were dangerous and destructive resulting in dire consequences. Some have beat themselves up trying to reconcile how their children could have made such choices forgetting they have a free will just as we do. This text gives us good news that we should embrace; God takes care of the families of those who honor him. So while we are praying for our wayward children, let us be careful to honor God and trust Him to take care of them until they can be brought to themselves.

Lord Jesus, we confess today that we have not always been good at honoring you. In praying and worrying about our children we have griped and nagged more than we have trusted You and Your Word. Today we repent of such unproductive actions and commit ourselves to drawing closer to You. Enable us to honor You with our whole being. Keep us from vain religion and cause us to embrace you even the more; and, as we do so please take care of our children and bring them back to You. Amen.