Today’s devotion passage is from Genesis 8. After a year in the ark, Noah emerged to offer a sacrifice to God and worship Him. At the time God made a solemn commitment never again to destroy all living creatures.
As I reflect on my personal situation, I am in this season where my family and I feel safe inside God’s protection from the rain and storm. My family and I are taking time as we have a new addition in our family. We spend lots of time caring for one another. God’s Word remind me of how I should respond to God’s grace.
The world is full of chaos as we look to the news of terrorism attack and political unrest. Closer to home, I already see many of my peers experiencing difficulties in their marriage. I also see the uncertainty in the economy and job market, as young people are vulnerable to. I pray and sense what’s going on with the teenagers I am ministering to. God reveal to me their emotional distress and confusion through their sharing, through movies and music they listen to, and practically by the way they behave. Of course most of us would not admit it, it is a stormy and uncertain world out there. On the surface, we have material abundance and excess. Deep inside, we are drowning from our emotional confusion, or in some cases, financial distress due to soaring living expenses.
My natural and sinful response to stress is to escape and hide. During a season, God calls me to hide in the ark of his presence and experience his protection and saving grace while watching the chaos out there. There is another season where the storm and rain will stop, and God is establishing a new relationship. The faithful response to God’s saving activity is always worship.
The Bible did not give much details on what Noah and his family do in the ark. All we know is that God remembered Noah and all the beast and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. Noah and his family should be praising and worshipping God majority of the time. (Internet, computer games, etc were not available yet).
I thank God for this morning’s passage for guiding me to worship God as the proper response to God’s grace on me and my family.