Genesis 8:1: “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.”

September 23rd, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

When it says that “God remembered Noah,” it is in the same sense that the thief on the cross in Luke 23:42 wanted to be remembered. Something like, “In your love, intervene on my behalf.” God is not saying, “Oh, I almost forgot” or “Oh, that’s right, that carpenter Noah. I’ve got someone down there I need to work with.” The ark was not Noah’s idea, it was God’s. If God had not spoken to Noah, he also would have died in the flood.

Genesis 6:8 tells us, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Grace is what made the difference in Noah’s life. Yes, Noah maintained the ways of the Lord in a sinful time, but Noah was himself still a sinner. Because of his sins, Noah deserved nothing from God but judgment. However, God reached into Noah’s darkness and extended the free gift of grace to him. He first told Noah about a way of salvation and then personally invited Noah to come into the ark to be saved. We might say many things about Noah, but it comes down to pure, precious, perfect, powerful free grace! Were it not for the grace of God, Noah would never have known about the flood that would have killed him or the ark that would save him. Both of these were astonishing gifts of amazing grace!

If you are in the Ark of Salvation today, you are there because God extended His grace to you. You didn’t come to God on your own. You came to Jesus because God, in His grace, His mercy, and His love, drew you to Himself. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). We are saved because God looked beyond our dead, darkened condition and reached out to us in grace. We will never see the truth of our own sinful condition unless the grace of God shows us. We will never know that Jesus can save us and deliver us from Hell unless the grace of God shows us. Bringing salvation, God comes to the lost sinner, opens his blinded eyes, shows him his lost condition, and convicts his heart of sin. The same life-saving grace that was extended to Noah is extended to everyone of us.

“LORD, we are eternally grateful for Your grace that ‘brought us this far’ and ‘will lead us home.'”