Daily D – Genesis 6:8
Happy New Year! Thanks for joining us on this journey through the Bible. We will ask God to mentor us throughout this year. We will seek his wisdom and direction daily. We will trust him to speak to our hearts and to show us the way we should go.
I am reading the YouVersion Bible reading plan from the BibleProject called One Story that Leads to Jesus. I am reading the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) as the primary translation for this plan. I will also compare the New International Version (NIV), the New Living Translation (NLT), The Message (Message), and the New American Standard Bible 2020 (NASB 2020).
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S = Scripture: These devotionals follow the SOAP Bible study process. Each entry begins with a Bible verse or passage.
O = Observations This is where I write what God is saying to me.
A = Application This is where I write down how I will put into practice what God tells me.
P = Prayer This is where I respond to God’s instructions with prayer for strength and guidance to do what he says.
The most important lesson we will ever learn, and the most important lesson we will ever teach, is how to hear and obey God. This SOAP Bible study method helps us master this most important subject.
Pray for me as I spend time alone with God and write these daily entries. Please let me know how I may pray for you.
Special gratitude goes to Casey Lester, who set up this template in MailChimp. She also curates Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook posts from these devotionals. You can follow me on these social media streams by searching for @davidgbowman.
With gratitude,
David
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Genesis 6:8 ”Noah, however, found favor with the Lord.“ (CSB)
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One man stood out in a world where everything was going downhill fast. God used him to reverse the course of humanity. He wants to do the same with you and me. God wants to bring a little more heaven on earth through us.
God was deeply grieved with all humanity. Within this world where almost everyone had turned toward evil in everything, one man stood out. Noah is elevated above everyone else in Genesis. Verse 9 tells us what God thought of him.
These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.
– Noah was righteous.
– Noah was blameless among his contemporaries.
– Noah walked with God.
God used this one man and his family to rebuild the broken world.
Notice the essential difference between Noah and many who claim to belong to God today. We find it in verse 22 and again in 7:5, and still again in 7:7.
And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.
Genesis 6:22 CSB
And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.
Genesis 7:5 CSB
So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark because of the floodwaters.
Genesis 7:7 CSB
Noah found favor with God because he took God seriously, walked with him daily, and obeyed whatever God told him to do.
Noah’s obedience was not partial. If it had been, he too would have perished in the flood.
There’s a detail here that is easy to miss. We find it in verse 10. After Noah and his family entered the ark in obedience to God’s command, it took another week before the floodwaters arrived.
I wonder how hard it was for Noah and family to sit in a boat that couldn’t float.
I wonder if Noah wondered if maybe he misheard God.
I wonder if anyone in that little prayer circle wondered if God would keep his promise.
Even the most righteous among us experience what feels like God’s delays.
Even the blameless among us have to wait on God from time to time.
Even those whose lifestyle is a good, long walk with God experience looking foolish to their contemporaries.
Noah and his family and their portable zoo teach us a few other things as well.
For one, God keeps his promises.
For two, God’s directions include God’s provisions.
For three, God makes our boats float to rise above the ordinary, the everyday, the perishing.
Noah stood out from his peers for a reason, and it saved his life and the lives of everyone he most deeply loved. May we do likewise.
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I will live like Noah who lived a life God could bless and use to bless the whole world.
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Our Father, I want to live in favor with you like Noah. I want to live a gracious and kind life that finds favor with others like Jesus (Luke 2:52). I want to live the kind of life you can bless. I want to be the kind of man you can use to bless the whole world. I cannot accomplish any of these desires on my own. Only by your grace and in your strength can these ideals become real. Empower me to represent you well in all things at all times. Amen.
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