DIGGING DEEP NO. 1051 September 3, 2024 THE GOD OF NEW BEGINNINGS Gen.8: 1- 22.

When you are going through a storm, it’s easy to feel forsaken or forgotten. Feeling forsaken is a normal human emotion that most of us have experienced. The Psalmist says “Why do you stand afar off, O LORD. Why do you hide in times of trouble.” Ps.10: 1. Apostle Paul confessed that his troubles in Asia had been so severe that he almost gave up on life 2Cor.1: 8. And our Lord Jesus Christ who cried from the cross “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me.” Matt.27: 46.

God remembered Abraham and rescued Lot from destruction in Sodom Gen.19: 29.

The LORD remembered both Rachel and Hannah and enabled them to conceive and bear sons Gen.30: 22; 1Sam.1: 11; 19. The LORD remembered His covenant and delivered the Jews from the bondage of Egypt Ex.2: 24; 6: 5. God not only remembered Noah and his family, but He also remembered the animals that were with them in the ark. We can be sure that God never forgets or forsakes His people. We can depend on Him no matter what our circumstances or no matter how we feel. The winds that God sent over the earth helped to evaporate the water and also moved it to the places God had provided.

God rewards faith – Gen.8: 15- 19. Noah was a man of faith who had the faith to walk with God when the people of the world were ignoring and disobeying God. He had the faith to work for God and to witness for God when opposition to truth was the popular thing.

What was it that caused the population to reject God’s word and perish? They were like the people in our Lord’s parable (Lk.14: 16- 24) who were occupied with the ordinary things of daily life (Matt.24: 37- 39) and unconcerned about eternity. They believed that life would go on as it always had and that nothing would change. They said that God would not invade the world or interrupt the scheme of things, but He did. People today have the same attitude concerning the return of the Lord 2Pet.3: 1- 9; 1Thes.5: 1- 10.

God receives worship – Noah was so filled with gratitude that his first act was to lead his family in worship. He built an altar and offered some of the clean animals as sacrifices to the LORD. Noah was a balanced believer. He walked with the LORD in loving communion and enjoyed His presence. He worked for the LORD in building the Ark, and he witnessed for the LORD as a preacher of righteousness 2Pet.2: 5. In Old Testament days, when you sacrificed a burnt offering, you gave the entire animal or bird to the LORD with nothing kept back (Lev.1).

“All on the altar” was the biblical law because sacrifice symbolized total dedication to the LORD. In a new step of commitment, Noah gave himself and his family completely to the LORD.

The description of God smelling the pleasant aroma is a human way of stating a divine truth: God was satisfied with the sacrifice, accepted it, and was pleased with His people and their worship Lev.1: 9; 3: 16. If God refused to “smell” the fragrance of the offering, it meant that He was displeased with the worshippers Lev.26: 31; Is.1: 11- 15. In New Testament language, the sacrifice speaks of Jesus Christ offering Himself up for us Ephe.5: 2. In and of ourselves, we can’t please God by what we are or by what we do; but by faith, we can be accepted in Jesus Christ 2Cor.5: 21; Ephe.1: 6.

God reaffirms the natural order – Gen.8: 21- 22. God responds to Noah’s faith, obedience, and worship by giving some promises:

The ground cursed no more – God had cursed the ground because of Adam’s sin Gen.3: 17 and had added a further curse because of Cain’s sins Gen.4: 11- 12. Those curses will not be removed until Jesus returns and God’s people dwell in the holy city Rev.22: 3.

No more universal floods – God also determined that there will be no future floods. God spoke these words in response to Noah’s sacrifice, and that the sacrifice was a picture of the sacrifice of Christ Heb.10: 1- 10; Ephe.5: 2. On the basis of the atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross, God could say, “A price has been paid for the sins of the world, and I can withhold judgment. I can show grace to a lost world. I will not send another flood and wipe out the human race; instead, I will offer them my great salvation. This doesn’t mean that there will be no future judgment of the world. There will be a future global judgment, but not a judgment of water; it will be a judgment of fire 2Pet.3. 1- 18.

No interruption of the cycle of nature – The flood had interrupted the normal cycle of the seasons for a year; but that would never be repeated. Instead, God reaffirmed that the rhythm of days and weeks and seasons would continue as long as the earth endures.

In Conclusion – All creation preaches a constant sermon, day after day, season after season, that assures us of God’s loving care. We can trust His Word, for there has not failed one word of all His good promise (1Kgs.8: 56).