Noah – Me From the Inside Out

Bible study, Devotion, From the Beginning to Forever, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study

The Ark of Grace

Posted on October 1, 2025October 1, 2025 by

based on the LGG Study, From the Beginning to Forever/w1d4

Read Genesis 6:11-14 and 17-22 or KJV; SOAP: Genesis 8:1

Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. ¹²God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt. ¹³So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!

¹⁴“Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior.

“Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. ¹⁸But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁹Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. ²⁰Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”

²²So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

Genesis 6:11-14, 17-22 NLT

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede.
Genesis 8:1 NLT (KJV)

I recently went with a friend to the “Sights and Sounds” production of Noah, so it is very fresh in my mind, making today’s portion of the journey a bit more 3-D in my mind’s eye. Watching it play out on the big screen certainly made me realize, at least in some small way, the depth of courage, faith, and work it must have taken for Noah and his family to actually live through the reality of it…not to mention the fear and agony of knowing the earth would be destroyed and all life with it. The unknown factors, such as whether the boat would truly keep them safe, and what would happen afterwards, not to mention the thought of being trapped on an enclosed vessel for that long, would have been added concerns, at least for me. Reading the story on the pages of Scripture has never been less than a marvel, but seeing it portrayed in the theater, was an impressive revelation to Noah’s complete trust in God, his commitment to this strange call of God, and his family’s commitment to work with him and follow Noah’s lead despite the unknowns.

While the theatrical production embellished the story for effect, the reality is we only know the short version of what God tells us in His Word, where we see God’s utter disappointment in humans and what they had become and what they had done to His once tranquil and beautiful creation. Adam and Eve’s sinful choice to trade life for death had indeed brought about death and destruction, except for Noah and his family, because Noah had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. As I poured these words out on the pages of my journal, I couldn’t help but thank God for the grace He has shown to me/us, through the righteousness of Christ alone, and the salvation extended to all who abide in Him.

In the show about Noah, there were a few scenes where he would warn others about what was coming. He pleaded with them to listen, so that they would not perish. Whether or not this is how it actually happened, in the years it took to build the ark, possibly 120 years, Noah certainly had the time to “preach righteousness¹” Gotquestions.org points out an interesting and convicting truth, saying: “In addition to Noah’s proclamations to the unbelieving world of his day was his “wordless preaching.” In the very construction of the ark, Noah bore witness to righteousness. Every hammer blow, every pounding of a nail was a call to repentance and a declaration that judgment was coming.

May our hearts be burdened for those who are lost and in danger of perishing. May God find us faithfully sharing His message of love and gift of grace, and bearing witness to righteousness – so that no one will perish.²

Friends, as Noah’s family entered into the Ark, trusting God to save them, we must enter into a relationship with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. When we do this, we receive the promise of eternal life, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us, enabling us to abide (live in) Christ. Because of this act of love and grace, when this earth is again destroyed,³ those who are found “in” Christ will be saved from the destruction to live with God for eternity. ⁴

The More We Know

Jesus called out the fact that Noah’s contemporaries ignored the message that would have saved them. At the same time, the Lord warned us of making the same mistake: “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26–27).

The point of Peter referencing Noah and others like him in his second epistle is that, if God did not spare the ancient world who rejected Noah’s warnings, how much less can He be expected to spare those who dismiss His calls to repentance today?
Gotquestions.org

Bible study, LGG Study

Everlasting Covenant: An Unconditional Covenant

Posted on November 25, 2020March 11, 2026 by

Today’s Scripture: Genesis 9:12-17 (S.O.A.P. Genesis 9:12-13)

¹²Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. ¹³I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. ¹⁴When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, ¹⁵and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. ¹⁶When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” ¹⁷Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”

LGG Blog

My Thoughts

Bible study, From the Insideout

From the Insideout: Everlasting Covenant – Week 1, Tuesday

Posted on November 24, 2020November 25, 2020 by

The rainbow has been used in many different ways throughout history, such as an acronym, Roy G. Biv, for the sequence of hues commonly described as making up a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, or as a trademark in the advertisement of a popular cereal, and the infamous path to a pot of gold. However, it’s first use as a symbol precedes each of these by centuries and carries much more importance.

We find it mentioned for the first time as a sign of a covenant between Noah and all generations that followed. God said it was to signify that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood. He called it a guarantee, and to this day He has held true to His promise.

Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. ¹³I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.
Genesis 9:12-13

Since childhood, when I see a rainbow I’ve been intrigued. First of all – where’s it’s end and is there really a pot of gold there? (Ok, be honest, you’ve wondered the same thing.) However, having been raised in a Christian home and taken to church from birth – I learned very early on through Bible story books and flannel graph lessons (yes, I am that old) – that what I was seeing meant God had made a promise. Somewhere along the way, as I grew and matured in my understanding of that promise I moved from simple intrigue and being mesmerized by it’s beauty to giving thanks to God for His promise, and then to being humbled by His faithful grace and mercies to His people.

As I reread the passage today, I noticed three things –

He gave a sign for Noah and all generations to come. God could have simply said, “I promise.”, but He’s a relational God and He chose to give His people a visible sign. He called it a guarantee, a term meant to imply or encourage trust in the one making the promise.

Then there’s the placement of the sign. “I will place My rainbow in the clouds.” When I think about clouds, I think of “looking up”, an act I immediately associate with “looking to God”. I think of Scriptures like Psalm 121: 1-2, where the Psalmist said he looked up to the hills because he knew his help came from the Lord, and of Luke 21:25-28 where Jesus, Himself, said that the people were to look up because their redemption was coming.

25 “And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. 26 People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory. 28 So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”
Luke 21:25-28

However, the thing I found most interesting is that Scripture doesn’t say that the rainbow is to be a reminder for Noah and the generations to come, I guess that’s a given since a sign is meant to be noticed. It does, however, say that He will notice it and remember it as the guarantee He made to His children. God is God – He is the omniscient – all knowing – God. Forgetfulness is not one of His characteristics, but just as He can declare that He will not remember our sins against us* – He can “claim the right” to remember a promise made. His statement, as the symbol itself, is an indication of the how serious He is about the promise.

*³¹“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. ³²This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34

God is serious about His promise so He gives His people a visible sign to confirm it, a sign that is a reminder still today. A symbol of trust that has not worn out with the passing of time. A symbol that awakens a fresh remembrance of a faithful and loving God. A symbol of hope, of grace, of mercy, and of love.