GENESIS 7

Perhaps it’s because I’ve grown up in the age of blockbuster movies, with end-of-the-world flicks such as Independence Day, Armageddon, and The Day After Tomorrow, but I got a little bit of that ominous, impending-doom feeling as I read this chapter again. I guess that’s because the Bible’s account of the Flood sounds like a scene from a movie: "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day, all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened." (vs 11)

The springs of the great deep burst forth! When we think/talk about the Flood, we talk about it raining for forty days and nights, but we sort of forget about that little part that says the earth exploded! Some Bible versions say that all the underground springs erupted and the heavens split open. On the second day of creation, God had gathered all the water into two places—into the oceans and into the heavens. And on the first day of the flood, all that water came gushing
up and falling down. The earth literally exploded in a vast, overwhelming fountain.

God knew this was coming. Whether you subscribe to the belief that He literally caused it to happen or whether you subscribe to the belief that the effects of sin upon nature caused the Flood to happen, one thing is clear: God knew it was coming.

And the best part of the story is that God knew exactly what to do to preserve life on the earth. Can you imagine any government on earth actually being faced with the knowledge that a worldwide, end-of-life-as-we-know-it disaster was coming? Any efforts at preserving life would likely be fraught with chaos and disagreement. But in Genesis, God calmly tells Noah exactly what to do in order to survive the Flood.

To me, this is a fabulous lesson that God alone knows the way of life. When things look impossible and hopeless to us, He is not defeated. He is not outwitted. He views an impending disaster differently than we do. He knows exactly what needs to be done in order for us to survive and thrive. We never need to be afraid when we know God and listen to Him. He will always show us the way of life.