Genesis 6-9
This is the account of Noah and the Great world-wide flood. This is a historical event according to Jesus (Matthew 24:37-39) and according to ancient world cultures who retell of a flood that covered the entire world (Ancient Chinese, Ancient Muslims, Ancient African Tribes all retell of this historical event!
The people God created were becoming so corrupted by sin that God found only one man who still worshipped Him-Noah. Notice that God considered the sinful people to be "consistently" sinful in 6:5 (New living Translation) or "only" evil (NIV). So God decided to destroy them all and start over. But God used His patience and gave them 120 years to shape up (6:3).
Noah was an upright and righteous man, blameless in people's sight and (according to the New Living Translation) "consistently" followed all that God said. God sees what is consistent. We sometimes beat up ourselves over one sin (and we probably are okay to do that so long as it doesn't take our attention from God). Rather, God observes the consistency of our lives. Do we consistently honor Him and obey Him? Or do we consistently ignore Him? This was the premise for God's decision to wipe out all the earth!
Once the flood had resided (over one year after it had begun), God issued a promise to Noah's family--"Never again will I destroy the earth with water." This promise is marked by the rainbow after a rain. They were then told to have lots of children to repopulate the earth. Today's text ends with the imperfection of Noah. He drank too much of the wine he made in his vineyard and became drunk. This does not show the allowance of the Bible for drunkenness. However, it shows the shame of drinking too much as Noah passed out naked and it was shameful for him to be seen naked by his son Ham.
Have you ever faced a situation when you felt like all and everyone were against you? It seemed like the world was out to get you? When it seemed like God was not listening to your cries out to Him? If so, then you possibly can understand what David was enduring in Psalm 3. The setting of the Psalm is when King David was running for his life because his rebellious son named Absalom was seeking to kill his father so that he could become king of Israel (2 Samuel 15). Absalom had gathered an army of about 10,000 soldiers to hunt and kill David. In that time, David wrote Psalm 3. His trust in God for protection and peace is incredible. Next time you feel the world caving in on you, read Psalm 3.
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