A Tumultuous Ride
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
6/23 Reading Portions: Deuteronomy 28:20-68; Psalm 119:25-48; Isaiah 55; Matthew 3
Genesis 7:17-18
The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters.
WATERS
On the night the Lord Jesus was betrayed, He told His disciples,
“I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
When we are saved, we are promised tribulation in the world because the world hates us since it hates our King (John 15:18). Noah’s salvation in the ark foreshadows this gospel truth. When the rain came down in the first forty days in the ark, and the waters burst forth from the fractured ground to flood the planet, the rising water level was not a smooth ride. The family and the animals were tossed to and fro upon the waves of the sea. As a career Navy deep-sea diver before the Lord called me into ministry, I’ve been on some ships underway in the open ocean during inclement weather, and as bad as it was from my experiences, I’m sure they could not compare with what Noah and his family must have endure inside the ark.
Yet with the raging weather and the water rising outside the ark from God’s judgment upon the wickedness in the earth, Noah, his family, and the animals had a miraculous, supernatural peace. Concerning tribulation in the world, Jesus said,
“…that in Me you may have peace.”
The ark in the midst of the rain and rising floodwaters is a type of Christ, because in Him, you and I know a peace that surpasses understanding (Phil 4:7), though we may be in the midst of trials and tribulations.
But it is in these tribulations that our blessed God and Savior works all things together for our good (Rom 8:28) to make us more like Jesus (Rom 8:29).
Hallelujah! What a Savior!