Genesis 8:1. But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.
Usually when we say that we remembered something it is because we had forgotten it. Maybe you forgot about a homework assignment that is due the next day, but then you remembered it in the morning. Uh oh. Now you have to get it done on the way to school.
But God doesn’t actually forget anything. God’s memory is perfect. So when the Bible says that God remembered Noah it actually means that God is about to take action. He is about to keep the promise that he made. God remembered Noah, is the turning point of the whole story. This is when things go from bad to good. Noah has been inside the ark for 150 days just waiting for God to do something. But now the waters will start to subside. They will start to go down until eventually the ark will land on dry ground.
God remembered means God is in control of everything. Things always happen when God wants them to happen, not before and not after. When it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, that’s because God was in control of the rain. And when the water started to subside, that’s because that’s when God wanted it to subside. God was in control of Noah’ life and he is in control of your life too.
God remembered also shows that God loves us. God remembered Noah. He remembered the person, the man, the individual, Noah. This story isn’t a fairy tale. Noah was a very real person going through a very real flood. But God loved Noah. God gave grace to Noah. Noah loved God and obeyed God. And now Noah will be remembered by God. Again, this does not mean that God had forgotten Noah, it means that God was about to keep his promise to Noah – rescue from the flood.
Insert your name for Noah’s. God remembered ____ (put your name in the blank). That’s how personal your relationship is and can be with God. The God who remembers you too.
God remembered is all about God’s grace. The flood story isn’t about God giving us another chance to be good, as if maybe this time we won’t turn into such wicked and terrible people. Nope. The truth is that after the flood people were just as wicked as before the flood. You see, the flood story is not about us being better or us re-dedicating our lives to God. It is about God demonstrating his dedication to us – his promise (or covenant) of grace. Here’s God’s promise to us after the flood:
Genesis 9:11-13. 11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Have you ever seen a full rainbow? A rainbow is shaped like a bow and arrow. But which way is the bow aimed? At us? Or at God? That’s right, it is aimed at God. This is God’s way of saying that he won’t fire the arrows of his anger at us anymore. Instead he will fire them at himself. This is why Jesus took our punishment on the cross. Jesus was pierced by God’s arrows of wrath so that we don’t have to be.
With Jesus, we know that God has remembered us, just as he did Noah. God is in control and God loves you. He loves you so much that he would take the punishment for sin that you deserve so that one day you can live with him forever.
Questions: Do you ever feel like God has forgotten about you? How does Jesus living in your heart prove that God remembers you and that he loves you? How does knowing this help you to obey him like Noah?
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