The Great Flood

 

Genesis 7 – The Great Flood

 

Noah was 600 years old when the waters began to rain on the earth.  That means his three sons were 100 years old and they have not yet had children. Noah was righteous before God and obedient to God.  The Bible doesn’t say that Shem, Ham and Japheth was righteous or obedient but since they went along with Noah’s plan to build an ark and they entered it with their wives and Mother, we can assume they trusted in Noah’s faith and were obedient to their father and Mother.  All eight people were shut in the ark for 40 days and nights while the rain was coming down.  The waters covered all the hills and mountains.  The Ark rose with the waters and all existence outside of the Ark had died.  The waters stayed on the earth for 150 days, that equals to about 4 ½ months.  Because there was only one door and couldn’t be opened without God’s help, the only access to fresh air was from the one window.  Imagine living in a place where you smelled pitch (tar) all day, along with all the smells of the animals and your own body sweat.  Imagine having to take care of the animals in the ark and all their messes.  The Ark was three stories tall and I have been told it was the length of a football field (true or not, I don’t know).  That would be about the size of the building you are now living in with two more stories.  The window I believe was in the top floor.  Choose if you will, which floor do you want to live in.  Would it be the floor with the larger animals such as elephants, hippo’s, rhino’s, horses, cows.  Or the floor with the medium size animals such as lions, tigers, sheep, goats, etc.  Or maybe you would prefer the floor with the birds, snakes, insects and rodents.   Now imagine living there for 10 months as Noah and his family did.    Would you gripe and complain even though you knew this was God’s plan for you?  Or would you be grateful that He saved your life and are hopeful and encouraged of better things to come.  You can imagine what grief they must have shared losing their relatives and friends that were killed in the flood.  Now fast forward to today.  Suppose you live in a 40 room, single floor building with up to 95 residents. (nursing Home) Do you grumble and gripe that living conditions are horrible even though you know this is God’s plan for you?  Or are you grateful that you are still alive and being cared for with the promise that better things are ahead for you.  Do you hear the staff grumble about the messes they have to endure?  If you do, remind them of Noah and his family and the hardships they had.  Their job can’t be as bad as the job Noah and his family have.  The point of the matter is to be thankful for what we have because we could certainly have had worse.  This lesson I taught in a local nursing home.  J. Vernon McGee Commentary.