When God Remembers

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark... (Genesis 8:1a NASB)

The ark "walked" on the waters of the flood 150 days (Genesis 7:24), and that's a long time to wait.  After just over 5 months, God remembered.  There is something comforting about that.  Sure it was 5 months, but God remembered.  I'm confident that 5 months cooped up with a bunch of smelly animals would have driven me nuts (notice Noah didn't open a window until Genesis 8:6).  This could not have been a comfortable trip for Noah and his family; character-building family bonding perhaps; comfortable it wasn't.

I probably would have thought that God had forgotten me.  I'm pretty sure my family would have suggested very strongly that God had forgotten us.  Discouragement would have been what marked my trip bobbing on the flood waters destroying all life on the land.  I'm not sure Noah was discouraged, I'm pretty sure he wasn't pleased about waiting like he did to have the dove disappear, but he still continued on.  Yet through that process, God remembered Noah and all life on the ark.  It may have seemed like He didn't, but He did.

I discovered that my Master remembers me too.  I did something very rare for me, I lost my phone yesterday.  I couldn't remember when I last had it except that it was early in the day.  I looked all evening last night, and didn't find it.  I called it, while I listened intently from all the various places in and around my house where I knew I had been.  I had only left the house to walk the dogs at lunch, and that had been in a 30-minute circuit around the neighborhood; a route followed by about half the students at Silverland Middle School.

Well this morning, Erin and I were going on a bike ride.  I felt compelled to follow the route I had walked the dog, even though the odds of finding the phone were really long.  What with all the kids that went along that route, it seemed very unlikely they would have just left it, or not noticed it.  I didn't have a lot of faith in their character to return or find out who lost a smart phone.  I felt it was not likely to turn up, but I felt compelled to look.  Erin was against following the route since it took out way out of our way for the bike trip.

You probably guessed it by now, it turned up.  Erin found it at the end of a street near vacant lots never used for our housing development.  It was there in the dirt, it was working, and in fine order.  It hadn't been found, it hadn't been damaged by the cold or damp night, it hadn't been taken, and it hadn't been destroyed by someone running over it.  Everything that could have happened to destroy it or deny me from it, didn't happen. 

It seems like my Master remembered me.  It's a small thing.  There was no flood, no wide-spread destruction of the land, no living thing died, and I didn't have to build a big boat.  It only took one night, not 150 days.  But the odds were against me, yet I felt compelled; not hopeful mind you, but compelled.  So where was my faith?  It was in my belief that went beyond my hope.

I knew that even though it was not likely I wanted to be thorough.  I wanted to be an example to my daughter who struggles to find things, usually because she isn't thorough in her looking.  Yet, still I had little belief I would find it (and actually Erin found it, the one who believed less than I did).  Yet being an example or just to make a point of being thorough doesn't really explain the compelling sense I had.  I just could not accept not looking and assuming it wouldn't be there.  I couldn't accept it by why?  Why was it so important to me?

I believe that my Master remembered me.  I believe that He compelled me to look.  I believe that I sensed His prompting to go look; to throw the nets on the other side of the boat one more time; to cast the line into the sea to get a fish with two coins in its mouth; to do what made little sense in order to experience the blessings of my Master remembering me.

Grace in the Midst of the Storm

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:8 NASB)


"Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark -- you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you." (Genesis 6:18-19  NASB)

The "favor" found by Noah in the eyes of Yahweh was in the midst of Yahweh's repentance that He had made humanity.  The word used in Greek for this favor is normally translated as "grace".  Thousands of years later, this word would be defined by the Son of God sacrificing Himself on a cross, and then defeating death in resurrection.  Here, grace is defined by the survival of one family and pairs of every animal.

So, grace and favor from God are not only very ancient concepts, but ones found even in the midst of God's wrath.  Love and wrath bound up in the same Person at the same time is confusing.  Yet how often am I angry and yet still love the ones with whom I'm angry?  I also find it comforting that I can find this grace of my Master in the midst of His wrath.

Last night, old patterns of thoughts crept back into my mind.  I shoved them away, and dwelt on other things, but it troubled me that they were back.  I know why they were there, I just don't like that they were there first, before other things.  I don't like that I had to consciously switch gears to get on to other things.  I don't want to be this way.  I suppose I have to continue my lessons, training to think differently.  I had hoped I was further along though.

So this morning I am tired.  I have a small group meeting tonight that I have been anxiously looking forward to for 2 weeks now.  We will discuss Genesis 6, perhaps the whole chapter, perhaps less.  I don't want to have that discussion tired.  But that choice has been taken from me.  I will have it while tired.  I will peek from out of the fog of my thoughts into the eyes of the others, and we'll discuss the giants in the land, the frustration of God, and the grace He gave to Noah.  Perhaps He'll share of that grace with me tonight?