God's Great Protection and Provision

As I read Genesis 8&9 tonight I was reminded of the great provision of God in our lives. It what was the most cataclysmic event that had happened on the earth to this time, and God never left or forgot about Noah. The ark that God had instructed Noah to build was exactly what Noah needed to protect him from the storm and provide protection until the storm passed. Then Noah had the opportunity to be a part of God's new plan for the earth and a part of God's covenant that he would never destroy the earth in this way again. I am reminded again in Psalm 12 that says "You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever. On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness as exalted among the children of men." Kind of sounds like the world we live in doesn't it? Everywhere you turn it seems that you see something bad, something vile. Sometimes so much that our hearts can become hardened to these things. Sometimes our focus can completely be distracted by the vileness that surrounds us, instead of the protection and provision that God provides. That protection and provision may not come in the way that we would like. It may come in the way of a big smelly ark, but all the same, it is exactly what we need in our circumstances.

Before I finish writing tonight, I have a confession. I am really hung up on what is probably a really insignificant detail. Read Genesis 9: 18-28. Long story short, Noah becomes a winemaker, gets drunk one night, his youngest son finds him naked, son tells brothers, brothers cover Noah, Noah wakes up, Noah gets mad and curses the youngest son to be the servant of his older brothers. Hmm. I don't know about you, but this just seems like a really weird detail to drop in the midst of these scriptures. I even tried to read ahead and see if it makes more sense, but nope, it doesn't, at least not to me. I know this is probably a minor detail, but I get hung up on it, because I don't feel like there are really any completely minor details in the Bible. So, my thoughts...maybe it was a family story to show the relationship between Noah and his sons before going more into Noah's lineage in later chapters. Maybe it was to show the shame that Noah felt by his sin being exposed and the anger he felt because of it. Maybe it was to show that Noah was human. Even after being chosen by God to survive the flood and be a part of this new earth, Noah still messed up. I don't know. None of those thoughts are really theologically based on anything, just thoughts. Oh well, I'll try and not focus so much on the detail that probably isn't all that important, and focus more on God's protection and provision in my life. Thank you Lord for your hand that protects and guides me. Amen.

Today's Reading: Genesis 8&9, Psalms 12

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27