Genesis 7:1-24
7:1 God's love in this verse is familiar; we learned of His extensive love for us in the New Testament. Our creator is unchanging: He protects and guides His children. Noah lived an honest life. He raised his children in faith, love and humility.
7:2-3 Whether this is a parable or a series of actual events becomes somewhat of a moot point when we focus on the meaning. God prepared a place for good manifestations of life to thrive and escape destruction.
7:4 The corruption which we learned of in Chapter 7 of this book was to be destroyed. The definition of the translated word "destroyed" means to wipe out, obliterate, exterminate, blot out, erase. This is the inevitable fate all evil faces. Hell, rather than a place of eternal punishment references this word: destroyed. Obliterated.
7:5-6 Noah followed God's lead and His will. Noah's continued trust in God, even amid tumultuous times, ensured his safety, protection and likely, his ability to endure with hope and strength.
7:7-9 And so, Noah, his family and the animals came under the protection of God while the Earth received a rejuvenation, a cleansing of evil.
7:10-12 By this description of a great flood we are meant to perceive its completeness. A cleansing and refining hand reaching into every region of the Earth that was broken. A forty day period comes to signify probation, a time of reflection and redemption.
7:13-16 They followed God and God secured them. Our faith in God enables Him to do His graceful work, leadership and protection in our lives. Having received our permission to enter, He is able to wield our lives in accordance with His compassionate and wise will. When we follow His leadership, He is able to lead us to a haven, secure us in safety.
7:17 Our faith becomes our platform. It broadens and heightens our wisdom, our ability to perceive. It enables our ability to learn and subsequently grow from our experiences.
7:18-20 Noah's story encourages us to consider the amount of trust and patience it takes to give our lives to God's will. We must maintain our faith, ever strengthening it throughout our lives. Tumult encircled Noah, dramatically enough to potentially stir panic in him, but instead he remained in faith. Having remained in faith, Noah remained in the haven given by God, sheltered. Noah trusted not only that God loved Him, but also that God was truthful and also that God was capable.
Our God is loving, truthful and capable. He possesses all of the tools and materials required to sustain our lives in health and joy, justice and compassion. The key to His proverbial tool-shed? Faith.
7:21-23 As the faithful remained protected, safe, and healthy, the corruption in the world met its end. As it will again, in a different manner.
7:24 The rain continued to fall for one hundred and fifty days.
