Jesse Tree December 1 The Ark
Jesse Tree December 1 The Ark
The Ark reading: Genesis 7:17-22
God is disgusted with the heart condition of His creation. He could wipe them all out and start completely from scratch. But He made a promise to Adam and Eve and He will keep it.
When God promised Eve that one of her children would crush the serpent’s head, He wrote that promise in His eternal blood. It could not be broken. Yet He watched as man got further and further away from Him. Those He loved weren’t loving Him in return.
God isn’t some megalomaniac who hates anyone who doesn’t bow and scrape before Him. He is a loving God who wants the best for all of us. He knows that Satan has corrupted our hearts from the moment Eve listened to his lies and if left without guidelines we would self-destruct. If ever in doubt of this, watch a child who has had NO discipline or direction in its life then multiply that times infinity.
Man had reached a tipping point. He was that self-centered infant who only cared about his own wants and would do whatever it took to satisfy his desires. ONE man remained true to the principles the Lord had given. These principles weren’t even written yet. They were imprinted on the hearts of man instead. God had to act before there was nothing left of that impression.
This reminds me of a pad of paper. When you write on the top sheet, the weight of your strokes leaves an impression on the sheets below it. You can actually read this impression if you carefully rub the paper with the side of a pencil. But the further down the stack of papers in the pad you go the lighter the impression until nothing remains of your original message. Noah was the ‘last readable page’ in God’s stack.
God would deepen his impression on Noah’s heart with the pressure of His hand on Noah’s life. He would be the first in a ‘new pad’ of humans.
God gave Noah a detailed plan to bring himself, his family, and starts of everything else He had made to safety. It took a LONG TIME to build. Each day Noah hammered a new dowel, planed a new piece of wood or painted on a little more pitch deepened his commitment to God. I have little doubt that his sons were borne during this time and God’s impression was on their lives from the beginning. They too would carry His impression to God’s renewed creation.
God bore His creation in safety as He washed the earth of the stains sin had left on it. He cleansed it with water and then rolled it back so man could start again. Sin wasn’t removed from the world completely because Noah and his family still carried its seed within them. That total removal was still attached to the promise God made to Eve and it was still to come.
Jesus would be the final cleansing for the world, but just as the people had to choose between ‘riding out the storm’ or getting on the boat, we have a choice to make too. We can choose to accept the gift of God in the form of His Son or we can reject Him. For myself, they don’t make a big enough life jacket for me to brave the waters on my own!
Thank You Father God for sending Jesus. Thank You for preserving Your ‘impression’ on man’s heart. Thank You for keeping Your promises, no matter how hard it gets. I know I can trust You with my future. No matter what this world gets involved in, I’m on board with You and live in safety.
Thank You for the rain that nourishes our land too. Thank You that it doesn’t cover it completely in the process.
