After his year at sea, Genesis 8:1, tells us the Noah was still on God’s mind. It says, “But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark.” The flood narrative moves on from the presentation of Noah’s faith and trust in God’s word, to God’s response to Noah’s faithfulness. He “remembered…” In the Bible when God “remembers,” it’s not that something had slipped His mind. It’s a way of introducing God’s actions as they fulfill His promises. God is always “faithful” to the “faithfilled.” God brings the flood to an end, dries up the waters, blesses Noah and his family and sends them out into the big, wide, wonderful world to live life to the full. But God, as usual, does more than He promised. He extends to Noah and the entire creation another special promise, which He has kept to this very day.
With much joy, Noah and his family step foot on dry ground after a year and rejoice together and celebrate with a big feast. I was once at sea for 38 days straight as my destroyer, the USS RATHBURNE made it’s way from Hawaii to the Tonkin Gulf back in 1974. Those were a difficult 38 days. I can’t imagine what a full year at sea would be like. We all knew that dry land existed at the end of our cruise, I think Noah just trusted God for that. But the God who never forgets, took action and brought the rain to an end and raised up dry ground for Noah and his family and all the animals. Noah and his family were elated to say the least and had a party during which they offered sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to God. Genesis 8:21 says, “When God smelled the sweet aroma” of Noah’s sacrifice he said, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” I believe verse 22 is a song. We find several places in the Bible where God is said to sing. Did you know that God sings? The Hebrew text and many of our English translations put this verse as a poem or a song.
While the earth remains,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night,
shall not cease.