Friday 06 October 2017

Psalm: Psalm 97

Background

It took time for the flood to abate, a very long time, 150 days.So in this chapter of Genesis we see two very basic yet contrastingattitudes towards God in Noah - an attitude of desperation to beginwith and an attitude of thankfulness at the end.

Firstly Noah gets impatient - he had not quite reckoned onspending so long in the ark. Things were probably getting a bittense in there people in such close confinement with each and withtheir animals. Noah must have thought out loud repeatedly, 'howlong is this going to go on, Lord?'.

So when we read that God was mindful (Genesis 8:1) of Noah, what a relief that musthave been. At last, God was thinking, 'this is long enough, I'vemade my point'. The rain ceased and the waters drained away (verses2-3). In thankfulness Noah built an altar and sacrificed toGod.

In the flood God had effectively undone God's own creation, sonow it was time to start all over again - to begin the recreationof all that was good and beautiful. The passage is written in sucha way that it is almost as if God has learnt something from thisexperience (see verse 21). God's learning is, 'if this is howhumanity is, I must acknowledge this and work with thisreality'.

To Ponder

• When difficult or challenging things happen to us do we wantimmediate redress from God? How difficult do we find it to waitupon God's time for restoration and recreation?

• We can empathise with Noah's impatience and frustration withGod but do with empathise equally with the thankfulness to Godwhich he showed. When we experience the resolution of an issue howdo we give thanks to God?