F O O T H O L D
READING
16 EVIL EVERYWHERE
PRAY 'Holy, holy, holy!
though the darkness hide thee, though the eye
of sinful man thy glory may
not see; only thou art holy, there is
none beside thee, perfect in
power, in love and purity.' (Reginald
Heber)
READ Genesis 6:122.
THINK How does this chapter
describe Noah (9) and his neighbours (5)?
What kind of picture does it
give of God?
FOCUS A PICTURE OF REBELLION (18). The world had grown steadily worse.
There was violence, evil and
lust everywhere. Look back to 1:31 to
see how God felt about his
original creation. Now look at verse 6.
Our God is not hard or
uncaring. He is not remote. He is involved
and he feels very deeply.
Things had become so bad
that a complete new start was needed.
This reminds us of the truth
we saw in chapter 3. God cannot let
sin go. But the act of
judgement is one that hurts God deeply.
A PICTURE OF SALVATION (912).
Side by side with the picture of
judgement another important
Bible truth emerges. God longs to save
people, to take them away
from evil and its consequences. In verse
18 a very important word
occurs for the first time in the Bible
'covenant'. It refers to the
special agreement God makes with
people. This is not a deal
or contract between equal parties. Her
God takes the initiative and
makes certain promises. He looks for
a response of obedience and
love.
A PICTURE OF OBEDIENCE (22).
Imagine the scene. There was no water
and yet Noah built this boat
to exact specifications. No doubt
some people mocked him. It
is easy enough to obey when it makes
sense but what happens
when we are sure what God wants us to
do, but people laugh? God
looks for people who will obey him
completely always.
PRAY Pray that you may be
aware of God's will for you and obedient to
his commands.
