Today, I wanted to let you know about a free resource. It’s called 11 Easy Steps to Studying the Bible and you can find it on my website coffeewithchrist.org in the Community Bible Study tab. I’ll put a link in the show notes.
Let’s start with a few moments of quiet. This will help you slow down; settle in, clear the clutter, and breathe.
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Tell God what is keeping you up at night; what thoughts keep your mind swirling when you need to rest.
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Holy Spirit – We thank you for your presence in our lives. We thank you for the counsel you bring us during difficult seasons and for the joy you bring despite them. Use your words to change us today, and meet with us here in the quiet.
Yesterday, we read about Noah’s righteousness and his obedience and how it ended up saving a remnant of humanity from death. Let’s continue with more of his story….
Chapter 8
The Flood Recedes
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. 2 The underground waters stopped flowing, and the torrential rains from the sky were stopped. 3 So the floodwaters gradually receded from the earth. After 150 days, 4 exactly five months from the time the flood began,* the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 Two and a half months later,* as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks became visible.
6 After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7 and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the floodwaters on the earth had dried up. 8 He also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. 10 After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. 11 This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone. 12 He waited another seven days and then released the dove again. This time it did not come back.
13 Noah was now 601 years old. On the first day of the new year, ten and a half months after the flood began,* the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. 14 Two more months went by,* and at last the earth was dry!
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Leave the boat, all of you—you and your wife, and your sons and their wives. 17 Release all the animals—the birds, the livestock, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—so they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth.”
18 So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. 19 And all of the large and small animals and birds came out of the boat, pair by pair.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.* 21 And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. 22 As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”
May God bless the reading and hearing of his word.
What stuck out to you today as you heard the story of Noah and his family waiting in the ark?
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Do you feel shut in by God? Do you think God has forgotten about a painful or frustrating circumstance? What did you learn about God today that can encourage you or someone you know?
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How do you think God wants you to respond today based on who He is and what you just learned? How might you use that knowledge to encourage others today?
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Ease back into your day with a few moments of quiet. The world with wait just a few more minutes.
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Father God – magnificent sustainer – We thank you for the planting season and for the harvest. We thank you for the cold and the heat. We thank you the summer seasons of our lives and for the Winter ones. And we thank you for the day and the night. For those that are struggling with feeling shut in by you, will you remind them today that at the proper time, you will set them free? In Jesus’s Name. Amen.
Thanks for listening this eighth episode of Coffee with Christ. If you like what we do here, leave a comment for future listeners. Also, if you want to connect on social media, you can find me on Instagram at coffee.with.christ or on Facebook at Coffee With Christ.
Have a great day and be sure to tune in tomorrow for our next episode.