- Genesis 7 Daily DEVO And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Genesis 7:7 – Your faithfulness will have an effect on those around you. We see multiple times in this story scripture referring to Noah as righteous, yet it speaks nothing as to the righteousness or faith of Noah’s family. That’s said though, it wasn’t just Noah allowed on the ark, but his family as well. Those close to Noah were being effected by Noah’s faithfulness and so will happen for those close to you. As you strive to live your life more the way God is leading you to, those around you will begin to feel the overflow of blessing that God is giving you. The peace, the joy, the long suffering, these things will begin being felt by those around you as you follow God more closely. You have an effect on those around you and they will be curious about what they are experiencing from you. Stay faithful, even the person in the darkest of places can begin to experience the light when you shine it their way. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 488
- Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. Genesis 8:19 – They went in by pairs yet out by families. I’m not sure how much of my old zoo family reads these devotions, but I’m sure they’d agree that this would be amazing in itself. See animals in captivity don’t breed often as well as out in the wild. And when the conditions aren’t great it’s even less likely they will breed. Here they’d be in small, dark spaces on a moving boat in a storm. While the rain was only 40 days it’s believed they were in the ark for close to 370 days. Not great environments for families to be created, but that’s what happened. God was able to bring life to a situation that typically wouldn’t. Maybe your situation in life is much like this….small, dark, confined, surrounded by storms, and lasting far longer than you expected. All descriptors of an environment where life would normally be sucked out rather than created. God though can take that undesirable environment and create something beautiful from it if we let Him. Give Him this situation, trust His hand to handle it, lean into His rest, and watch what walks out of it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1812
- But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. Genesis 8:9 – Finally the rain of the global flood that came in Noah’s day had stopped, and while the rain stopped after forty days, waters were still covering the earth for many days after that. Noah and his family would have been on the ark for about a year before they could finally step foot on dry land again. Yet we see in our chapter Noah sending out birds to see if they found any resting place to land, showing that the waters were finally going down. The raven that was sent never came back, but likely found its resting place on many of the dead, floating carcasses. Yet when the first dove was sent out, it found no resting place. This is a representation of believers seeking a resting place in a sinful world. Spurgeon even speaks to this passage highlighting how the dove, a clean animal, couldn’t find a resting place in this sinful world, much like believer can never find rest from this sinful world. As we then navigate our life today, we too may be tempted to settle and find rest in the things those who do not follow Jesus settle in. Yet as gross and useless as a dove landing on a dead carcass would be so would be a believer trying to find rest in something the world offers. Our only rest can be found in Jesus, our Savior from the sinfulness of the world and the wrath of God, much like the ark was for the dove. Embrace the truth of Jesus, come all who are weary and He will give you rest. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2814
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