2023 Daily Lenten Journey – Day 18

Winter storms last a couple days. Hurricanes a bit longer. Each leaves destruction in its path. Can you imagine a storm that lasts more than six months? Can you imagine being tossed around in a boat for months wondering if you would ever get out alive? Then suddenly everything is calm.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.  And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.  On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, they and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort.  They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.  And they that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.  The flood continued forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.  The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters.  And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.  And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.  He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.  And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.  But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters had abated.

Genesis 7:11-8:3

It was like a new creation event. Everything living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed. God would be working with a clean slate except for one thing. God remembered Noah and his family. When God remembers us, that is a good thing.

I have met many people who think that God had forgotten them. It may have been sickness or financial struggle. It could have been family strife. In our struggle it is easy to think that we are forgotten. God NEVER forgets us. I’m sure Noah had his doubts for so many months.

We are focusing on Genesis for our 2023 Daily Lenten Journey because it helps us remember where the story of our salvation started. You may be experiencing a storm in your life. You may even wonder if God has forgotten you. Please allow this post today to remind you that God NEVER forgets us. Remember! The flood is all part of God’s salvation story. He allowed everyone to die so He could save them. He allows us to struggle, sometimes even die, so He can save us. But…..He NEVER forgets us.