Minister Like a Girl

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/index.php/2011/01/03?plan=2&version=31

The beginning of this passage was a joy to read as it reminded me of a Beth Moore study I completed years ago.  I’m pretty sure this was from her Believing God study which is really amazing and transforming.  She has an entire section where she talks about what it means when “God remembers” something.  She says that whenever the Bible speaks of God remembering, that remembering is followed by action.  When God remembers Noah, he acts on Noah’s behalf and begins to recede the water.  She reminds us that we must remember the Lord as well, and that our remembrance should also spark action.  She says it all much better and more completely.

So, after remembering, thanking God for that study, being convicted to remember and act more myself, I actually got into the text and noticed something new to me.

I don’t know how many times I have read these verses.  We named our oldest child Noah, and being careful about giving him such a name to live up to, I know I read these chapters over and over again.

Pop quiz – How long was Noah on the Ark?

Did anyone say 40 days and 40 nights? Maybe 40 days and 40 nights plus the week or two he sent those birds out to test the ground? Those are the only numbers that were in my head.  (I’m sure Beth Moore would be disappointed….)

How surprised was I to see that after the rain, Noah was on the ark for 150 days after the water receded, then instead of days we learn that we’re in the seventh month, but it wasn’t until the second month that Noah was released from the ark.  I can’t do all that math.  I’d need other books to tell me how the timing of those months line up, but it sure looks like he was with all those stinky critters for closer to a year than a month.

Another number issue – didn’t we just read on day two that God decided man should only live for 120 years? Noah and his descendants are on the Adam and Eve supplements I guess, because most of them are back in the mid hundreds.  They really don’t list all that many children to make those long years necessary.  I wonder if we are going to read of the shorter lifespan decision- post flood- in subsequent chapters?

Good news – God is not going to destroy the earth again by flood. The rainbow reminds us both of the covenant.  (Although God makes a series of promises of things that will endure – but only as long as the earth endures.  So there won’t be a flood…….but……)

Bad news – After Noah plants his vineyard, drinks a bit too much wine, and lies around naked, Ham makes a bad choice and instead of covering his dad without looking at his nakedness, he proceeds to leave him uncovered and tell his brothers all about it.  So Ham gets cursed.  When reading the genealogy, Ham’s descendants look familiar.  We run into many of those families later in the Old Testament – usually not in a good way.  (Isn’t it funny that it doesn’t point out Noah’s responsibility in all this – he was the drunk naked one, wasn’t he? Just goes to show…..we can’t blame the first domino for our own fall.)

Tower of Babel – so strange.  It almost seems like God is afraid of what people can do when unified.  I don’t really think that God would ever fear man, so maybe this was more for our own benefits – think of the harm an evil people can do when unified.  We have certainly seen evidence of that in history!

Great passage! Any thoughts?