The Rain Stopped (Gen. 8:1b-5)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/30/2006

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The rained stopped

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 8:1b-5

            Message of the verses:  “and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.  2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; 3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.

4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.  5 The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.”

Verse 1b tells about the power of God’s wind, as it begins to dry up the water from the earth.  One might ask where all of the water went, and that question is hard to answer because no one knows exactly what the earth looked like before this flood happened.  At any rate all of this takes a certain amount of faith to believe, and that faith must be in the God of heaven and earth who spoke and all that we can seen came into existence, so He surely has the power to cause a flood to cover the earth and then get rid of the water.

The rain stopped and the fountains of the deep quit bringing forth their water after forty days, and so the ark continued its floating around and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat, which is in modern day Turkey.  Dr. Wiersbe puts a note in his book that shows that this was the same date that the Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead.  Three more months and the tops of the mountains became visible, showing that the water was receding.   

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Noah and his family, like Paul learned contentment while in the ark, because they had to rely upon the promises that God had given them in order to stay calm inside the ark with all of those animals there.  God did not speak to them everyday to let them know He was taking care of them so they had to believe that He would do that and part of that belief came from looking back on all that the Lord had done for them getting them to this point.  I have asked the Lord to teach me contentment this year and I can see ways that He is answering that prayer.

The Word of God has been refreshing to me as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to make my life more meaningful, and continue to trust the Lord to teach me contentment, and also to direct my path.