Devotional
The Flood and the Word of Truth
Scriptures: Genesis 6:11-7:24
by Jacob Abshire on January 23, 2017
As the heavens and the earth yielded water to cause a great flood, the story itself has yielded great truths for life in God’s world. First, God judges sin. Second, God provides mercy. Third, Noah trusted God. Fourth, God is all-powerful. At least one more truth remains—God’s word is true.
This has been an underlying truth since the beginning. Whatever God speaks, it is trustworthy because it produces exactly what He says. Consider the six days of creation. On each day, God spoke and then it happened. With man, however, this is not entirely true. God created man with volition—the ability to decide for himself.
Although God literally gave man a world of evidence, man doubted God’s word. He told Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil or he would die. But Adam ate from it, and death came on all mankind. Cain also disbelieved God’s word, telling him not to give into sin or it would rule over him, and it did.
This repeats with each generation. God continuously tells mankind how to live by His design and be blessed in God’s earth, but man disbelieves and is cursed. By the time of the flood, we see that only Noah “did all that God commanded him.” He believed God, had a giant faith in God’s word, and built a giant boat by God’s command. He was saved from the waters of wrath and everything unfolded exactly how God said it would.
Reflections
- How do you see God’s word revealed throughout the story since creation? What does this tell you about His trustworthiness?
- What more do we learn about the things God says? What does it suggest to you about God’s knowledge and wisdom?
- How can you pray differently now that you know God’s word is trustworthy? Does this truth cause you to live more faithfully? Why?