But God remembered Noah

It could not have been easy to be shut up inside the ark. Did Noah get anxious as the months went by? Do trials make you fret? The two most important things in our lives are that God remembers us and we must remember God constantly. The sea can be a very lonely place, drifting with no land in sight. The rain had stopped and Noah had heard nothing from God for months. He was shut up inside the ark with his menagerie.
THE LORD REMEMBERED NOAH
a) He kept his promise. Remembered is a charming way of saying God thought constantly about them. God is a covenant keeping God. God is a promise keeper. All through the Bible God makes and keeps promises - see Genesis 19:29. Genesis 30:22 – he made promises to the patriarchs. God is faithful and he will never let us down. We often fear being let down or being forgotten. Little children prod their parents to keep promises. God does need reminders. See Psalm 42:9 to 10. We can think he has forgotten us or he is not working quickly enough, but he will never take his love or fail to keep his promises. We may seem drifting on the sea of life. God will act on our behalf in His time. Nehemiah wanted God to remember him. Wang Ming-Dao, the Chinese pastor was imprisoned for over twenty years and he only came out when he was 80, he lived to see God’s blessings on the work he had done in his prime.
b) He sent a wind, Psalm 78:26. Psalm 135 tells us God is in control of the wind and rain. Men cannot control the climate, only God can. God ended the flooding, he turned off the rain and the underground flow. God will work in due time, he may work slowly but he will bring his will to pass in his chosen ways. He rescued Israel through the Red Sea by sending a wind to dry up th sea. God responds to our to our helplessness in ways we can scarcely imagine. The word for wind is the same as it is for Spirit. He can change minds and attitudes. God responds to our helplessness.
c) He gave Noah signs. Noah has to wait even after the ark has grounded. The raven and dove indicate the nature of Noah’s intelligence. The raven feeds on carrion and animals. The raven showed there was death. It was a useful dustman, it ate rotten flesh. It was considered unclean. The dove showed there was life when it brought the olive leaf (they survive underwater). When it did not return it showed there was food to eat. The dove was a little evangelist bringing the good news. It is an emblem of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, by taking the form of a dove is the harbinger of good news, of a new creation. God still gives tokens of his grace today. He has ways of reassuring is that he remembers our distress, and is still working all things for good. The Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism in the form of a dove. The birds were like signs to Noah. He wanted signs to show him what to do. God sends us signs to assure us he is with us. He can rebuke us through sermons or through reading his word, through a fellow believer or circumstances. These all reassure is about the way we should go. Some times our faith is weak and we wonder if he is with us – rest assured he is if we believe in him.
d) He spoke to Noah. It was probably the first time God had spoken to Noah audibly since this ordeal began. Noah had developed a pattern of obeying the Lord for 121 years, and he wasn’t about to change it. The Christian life is a pattern of obedience, a structured life, a life of obedience, a pattern of life. God had given Noah a job to do, his feelings did not matter. Do not doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light. Wait on the Lord and while you wait, obey what you know. Sometimes we have to venture without being 100% certain.
NOAH REMEMBERED GOD
God remembered Noah and Noah remembered God. Those that remember God, shall certainly be remembered by Him. Noah did not go into a new like Adam did, it was a world where death was in evidence. Noah needed to get his priorities right.
a) He built an altar thankfully. This was the first mention of an altar. An altar is a place of slaughter. He built an altar to the Lord. It spoke of propitiation, gratitude and dedication. Clean animals were fit for eating and sacrifice to God. He slaughtered 1/7 of the clean animals. Sometimes animals were shared – part eaten and part burned. A burnt offering was totally consumed, and it was symbolic of total devotion, total dedication to the Lord. Noah recognized that he owed everything to the Lord. Jesus healed ten lepers. Leprosy is a terribly isolating disease. Yet only one came back to say thankyou to Jesus. We can be so blessed and we forget to say thankyou to God and acknowledge how wonderful God is. Noah went through a solemn ceremony in the midst of disaster. Ecclesiastes 12:1. If we remember God in our youth, we are less likely to forget him when we are old. Jeremiah 51:50. Remember who you are and whose you are. We need to seek his blessing while we can, when we are young and also when we are in the midst of trouble. It should be our motto for life – I will remember the Lord in all of my life.
b) He worshipped acceptably. God was pleased with what Noah did – verses 20 to 22. It was genuine and appropriate. God promised a consistent rotation of the earth and annual cycles. Noah didn’t understand how it worked, all he knew was that order was imposed on creation by the power and intelligence of God. Such a God was worthy of worship and awe. There is evidence here that in part, the flood was caused by an interruption in the rotation of the earth.
We can draw near to God because of the sacrifice that Jesus made.