But God Bible Study 6-23-18
BUT GOD… Remembers Us and His Promises “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded” (Genesis 8:1 NIV, emphasis added). *Also found in the NLT.
People began to populate the earth, but most did not live in relationship with God. The human race had become very wicked and evil thoughts were rampant in their hearts. In Genesis 6:6, we are told humanity’s sin grieved God’s heart. Our heavenly Father opened His heart to us when He made us. Noah walked with God and because of this, they had a relationship. God decided to flood the earth and start anew when He saw how prevalent sin was, BUT GOD spared Noah and his family. God told Noah how to build an ark to house his family and the animals during the forty days of rain that were to come. Afterward, God remembered Noah floating around in that ark.
This leads us to our BUT GOD verse.How much do we like to be remembered? Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, or just being picked up at the airport are all good examples. God is not far away from our circumstances; He is not just watching us from a distance. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina brought many deaths, and in the fall of 2012, Hurricane Sandy left quite a mess. The floodwaters destroyed hundreds of lives, but many people heeded warnings and escaped. Sometimes storms in our life will cause damage. In those times will we trust that God will remember us? We may be on a tiny planet in the universe with billions of galaxies, BUT GOD knows our addresses and exactly where we are; He intervenes in our circumstances. Just like us, Noah was definitely in need of some intervention!
God not only remembers us, BUT GOD also remembers His promises. After Noah departed from the ark, he gave thanks by building God an altar and offering Him sacrifices on it. God was pleased and made a decision (Gen 8:20-22). Even though humans have the tendency to be evil, God promised to never again flood the earth. He placed the rainbow in the sky as a sign of this promise between Him and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. It would be for all generations (Gen 9:11- 17). The Bible says God promised that every time the rainbow appeared, He would remember that covenant. Don’t we want our Bridegroom to always remember these things? How nice that He does!
In the New Testament, we see many examples which demonstrate how significant it is that our Bridegroom remembers. One of the criminals hanging next to Jesus on the cross asked Jesus to remember him….
Used by permission from But God Bible Study by author Tina Miller. All copyrights reserved.
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