This week we join Noah in the rain and discover the colourful end of his story. You will need an instrument and something colourful for our prayers to join in. Here is a picture of the story to download and colour. Enjoy and grown-ups don't forget the Thankful Thought below the video. Blessings Claire xx
Thankful Thought : Oct 8th 2020 : Noah lands the Ark. Genesis 8 & 9
Well Noah’s story moved on, the ark lands, the thanksgiving for safety is celebrated and the beautiful rainbow promise from God is given. It is an amazing story of one mans faithfulness and endurance through what must have been a very traumatic time.
Reading it in our time, I feel like we are still in the ark stage of our story. I wondered last week how we should be building an ark for this season and I feel we are very much still in our ark. I think perhaps the rain has stopped falling. We know what the danger is, and it has covered the earth, but we are still in the waiting stage. The waiting was very much the longest stage of the story. If you google how long was Noah on the ark you will get a range of opinions rather like the range of estimates for the current R value of the virus but most have him in there at least 370 days!
The Bible is full of long waits for God’s promises to be fulfilled – think of Abraham waiting for his promised son (14 years), the Israelites in exile from the promised land (70 years) and the wait for the prophesies of a messiah to be fulfilled (between 400 and 1000 years) Yet we live in an age where we are not used to waiting for anything – with amazon prime next day delivery has become the expected norm. I don’t know what we are supposed to be learning during this pandemic, but patience and endurance must be part of it. We are having to learn a new pace.
Noah sent out the birds to spy the state of the situation. What are you using as your spy on the world ? I am slightly addicted to figures and graphs and rather adore the calmly delivered charts and comments from Prof Chris Whitty. These are currently not helping me feel that the waters are retreating there hasn’t been a sign of a twig in the beak recently.
The verse that brought me hope was chapter 8 verse 1 “But God remembered Noah and the tame and wild animals with him in the ark. God made a wind blow over the earth and the water went down” My thankful thought this week as we wait it out amongst the noise and smell of the animals, is that God has remembered us and that he will send his wind. The sound of wind was the first indication that the Holy Spirit had come at Pentecost and we still have that Holy Spirit with us now and we need it’s fruit especially patience and self-control as we wait out for the bird to return with a twig – it maybe many days yet but we have the holy spirit as the wind in our sails. We have the hope of the day when we will gather and give thanks together again on dry land. We have seen many rainbows in people’s windows during this strange season. Our God keeps his promises. He has agreed and given his own son as a sacrifice for our sins, he promises to never leave us and that nothing can separate us from his love. Surround yourself in the knowledge of His love this week in the waiting. If it seems like a biblical wait, then that is Ok there have been many, and they come good in the end. We just don’t know yet when the end of this wait will l be but God knows and he will remember his faithful people. Keep faithful friends.
Blessings Claire xx