Day 5

"Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.  And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

As long as the earth endures, 

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night 

will never cease."

Genesis 8:21-22

After Noah and his family spent over a year in the ark, this is the promise that God makes to Noah. Something about this passage speaks deeply to my heart.  I can't quite put my finger on it, and I wish I could.  In the five days I have been doing this, I feel like I haven't really thought of anything very interesting.  I wish I had some deep thoughts to share about some sort of revelation that had come or discovery that I had made.  All I can say is that as I read, I see affirmation about God's faithfulness and love for all people- the people who continuously reject him and screw up.

"I establish my covenant with you; Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood.  Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. " 9:11

I've always wondered about this passage.  God makes a specific covenant with Noah that a flood will never wipe out the earth.  It brings me back to all the thoughts I've had about God and the earth back then.  Why was God so specific about the flood?  He didn't promise that He wouldn't wipe out the earth, just that He wouldn't do it with a flood.   But then, I wonder if I am putting too many human attributes on God- that he would somehow be so specific as to leave an opening for that to be a possibility again?

Even so, with our current day salvation being in Jesus, who came long after the flood.. I believe that the situation is completely different. Before the new covenant, burnt sacrifices were needed to satisfy for one's sins.  According to what I've seen thus far of the scriptures, Noah makes the first sacrifice as an offering to God.(8:20) And the scent is pleasing to God.  This passage reminds me of 2 Corinthians 2:15.  "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. "

Praise God that we are in Christ, a pleasing aroma to God the Father through the sacrifice that Jesus so willingly became for us.