Building an ark is a lot like motherhood. Why? Listen in!

Today's Passage: Genesis 5-8

Cross-references: Hebrew 11:6-7

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Entrusted with a Child's Heart: The Study We're Most Known For

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Welcome to day two of the Dwelling

Place Bible Podcast for busy

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moms from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Cock, and even though

I asked you to listen to two episodes

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yesterday, I need to sneak one more

bit from Genesis four that I think

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is really worthy of our attention.

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At the end of the chapter, it says,

Adam knew his wife again, and she

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bore a son and called his name Seth.

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First, she said, God has appointed

to me another offspring instead of

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Abel, for Cain killed him to Seth.

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Also, a son was born and

he called his name Enoch.

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At that time, people began to

call upon the name of the Lord.

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What a phenomenally encouraging

ending to the chapter.

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Even with all she's gone through,

Eve's still has hope and sees

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God's blessings upon her.

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I pray I would have the same

perspective that no matter what

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happens in life, that I would still

focus on the goodness of the Lord.

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Interestingly, the last words we hear

from Adam are blaming his wife, over

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and over in the Bible, we see that our

words matter, and I just wanted us to

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notice that Eve's narrative and in hope.

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All right, now let's

get to today's reading.

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It's Genesis five through eight, and

that may seem like a lot, but if you're

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listening on an audio version, it's

probably going to take you about 12

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minutes to listen through these chapters.

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Chapter five is a

genealogy of 10 families.

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It focuses on the lineage

from Adam to Noah.

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There are definitely two

patterns about each person.

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It says, and he had

other sons and daughters.

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And then it ends with, and he died.

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There are two exceptions and they

just so happen to be perfect for

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our dwelling place theme in 5 22.

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It tells us Enoch walked with God

and then Enoch walked with God

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and he was not for God took him.

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God is continually looking for people

that want to dwell with him and

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Enoch was even able to escape death?

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I have a vision of Enoch and

Lazarus talking in Heaven and Enoch

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sharing that he had the blessing

of escaping death and Lazar saying

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how he actually got to die twice.

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The other character from chapter five

that breaks the pattern is Noah it

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tells us about his three sons, and it

does not mention that he dies, but we

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get into chapter six and we see that

he also had the blessing of walking

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with God and God even confides in him

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we will talk about what an upstanding

man Noah was toward the end of the

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episode, but first I wanna look

at some of the most heartbreaking

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glimpses and to the heart of God.

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I'll read a portion from chapter six

and then a couple verses from seven and

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eight that we'll discuss in a moment.

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Chapter six verse five Records.

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The Lord saw that the wickedness of

man was great in the earth, and that

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every intention of the thoughts of

his heart was only evil, continually.

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And the Lord regretted that he

had made man on the earth and

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it grieved him to his heart.

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So the Lord said.

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I will blot out man, whom I have

created from the face of the land

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man and animals and creeping things

and birds of the heavens for I am

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sorry that I have made them, but Noah

found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

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These are the generations of Noah.

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Noah was a righteous man,

blameless in his generation.

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Noah walked with God and Noah had

three sons, Shem, ham, and Jfe.

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Now the earth was corrupt in God's

sight and the earth was filled with

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violence and God saw the earth and

behold it was corrupt for all flesh

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had corrupted their way on the earth.

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And God said to Noah, I have

determined to make an end of all flesh.

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And then God describes his actions for

building the arc and the chapter closes

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with Noah, did all that God commanded him.

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We will hear that regarding Noah.

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Multiple times in chapter seven

and eight we'll hear the flood

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account and the key verse \ to

look to is chapter eight verse one.

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But God remembered Noah and all the beasts

and all the livestock that were with

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him in the arc and God made a wind blow

over the earth and the water subsided

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on chapter eight, closes.

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Then Noah built an altar to the Lord

and took some of every clean animal

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and some of every clean bird and

offered burnt offerings on the altar.

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And when the Lord smelled the pleasing

aroma, the Lord said in his heart,

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I will never again curse the ground

because a man for the intention of

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man's heart is evil from his youth.

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Neither will I ever again strike down

every living creatures I have done.

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There are three main

points I wanna discuss.

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First, it might surprise you how deeply

God feels and that he has emotions at all.

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But what we need to understand is

that though God can feel emotions,

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his emotions are completely held

in check by his other attributes.

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God will never allow his deep feelings

to prevent him from being completely

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righteous, completely just, or completely

holy, and that's the immutability of God.

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The fact that he is unchanging.

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I've always said that if I could

change something about myself, I

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would become a morning person or be

able to wake up for my first alarm.

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But honestly, as I pondered this

idea of being immutable, I think

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I might have to change my answer.

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I truly wish I wouldn't be swayed by

circumstances and that my emotions

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would be more steadfast, particularly

as it relates to matters of the home.

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This is truly an incredible thing about

the Lord, and since mothers often set

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the tone for how we handle our emotions,

I pray that this is something that

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the Lord would help me to grow in.

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Secondly, if you read the flood

account, you probably noticed.

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That there's some repetition of numbers.

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There's some sevens and a couple

hundred fifties, there's some forties.

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Perhaps you wondered if it

was purposeful, and it is.

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This is a really neat literary

device called a chiasm, and what's

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so cool about a chiasm is that the

action happening in the middle of

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the story is the pivotal moment in

the story in the flood narrative.

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This happens to be

chapter eight verse one.

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I will read it again,

but God remembered, Noah.

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Of course this doesn't mean God had

forgotten about him, but it means

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that God moves in remembrance of Noah.

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At this moment, if we go through

the whole chiasm, first, there are

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seven days of waiting, and then

another seven days of waiting, and

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then 40 days of flood, 150 days.

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Then that key moment,

but God remembered Noah.

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Then theres 150 days of the water waning.

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Then 40 more days of waiting,

then seven days of waiting, and

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then seven more days of waiting.

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As I was reading this, I thought,

oh, and we thought COVID was bad.

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Can you imagine being trapped up

with that many animals for that long?

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I'm picturing myself at the end of a road

trip with my kids, and that moment when

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we pull into the driveway, park the car,

and come into the house, I'm generally

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not thinking about building an altar and

worshiping, but that's what Noah did.

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He knows what God has saved him

from, and he is so grateful.

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In chapter eight, verse six,

it describes the process that

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of Noah sending out the birds.

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First he sends out the raven

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and it returns back, and then he sends

out a dove and it comes back, and

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then he sent, he waits another seven

days and sends out the dove again.

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And it returns with a freshly plugged

olive leaf, and then he waits another

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seven days and sends forth the dove

again, and she doesn't return him anymore.

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So he knows this is evidence that

the dove has found a resting place.

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And for the rest of the

episode, let's focus a little

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bit more on Noah's character.

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Do you know that he's described

more highly than anyone in the Old

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Testament other than the coming Messiah?

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It says he was a righteous man,

blameless in his generation, and that

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he did all God commanded him to do.

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But if you read through the story,

we never get a record of Noah

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speaking, and this is unique to him.

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No other Old Testament character

has as long of a narrative as

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Noah without having a quote.

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But I think Noah's actions

are what speak so loudly.

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Hebrews 11 is known as the hall of faith,

and it has high praise for Noah as well.

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By faith, Noah being warned by God

concerning events as yet unseen in

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reverent fear constructed an arc

for the saving of his household.

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By this, he condemned the

world and became an heir of the

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righteousness that comes by faith.

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It says events as yet unseen.

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Most scholars believe that Noah would've

never seen a drop of rain before.

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50 to 75 years is probably a

reasonable estimate for how long

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it took him to build the arc.

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It's incredible that he would

devote decades of his life.

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For an event he never witnessed

before, and that certainly

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makes me think about motherhood.

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God rewards radical

counter-cultural obedience.

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Sometimes he requires a physical

or spiritually difficult task, but

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as believers, we can trust that

his words will come to pass and

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that obedience will be worth it.

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Just as Noah committed to obey God's

commands to preserve his family.

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We can trust God's word to be our guide

as we raise our children and honor our

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husbands when it seems like the fruit

is taking too long, or especially when

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culture would choose other methods.

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Let's stay steadfast to the God of the

Bible because we know that without faith

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it is impossible to please him and that

he rewards those who draw near Tim.

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See, there it is again.

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He wants to be our dwelling place.

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Let me pray for you.

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Lord, guide us in an eternal perspective

that patiently waits for your glory.

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Guide us in living, godly lives, even

when our emotions would guide us.

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Otherwise

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allow us to build upon the

foundation of Jesus Christ.

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As we build our families for your glory,

I feel particularly burdened by moms who

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are struggling with prodigal children.

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Lord, would you draw near to

them if there's an adjustment

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that needs to be made?

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We thank you that your word promises

wisdom for all who ask, and we thank you

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in advance that you will guide each mom.

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Help us to have ears to

hear how you're leading us.

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But Lord, when there's not a

change that needs to happen, may

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we rest in what you're doing.

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Remove the shame that NP seeks to

impress upon hearts and move to bring

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each of our children and to a total

surrender to Jesus Christ, knowing

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that he is the source of true joy.

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In the rescuing name of

Jesus Christ we pray.

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Amen.