Ever wondered how the earth looked like
after the flood? Everyone prior to the flood was gone. Except for Noah, his wife,
his three sons and their wives, and the animals he took with him into the ark,
not a single soul was in sight. Every thing that ever existed was annihilated.
Noah and his family came out unscathed from the catastrophic flood. Just
imagine Noah standing alone in the wide open heaven. What was on Noah’s mind? He
had walked with God and obeyed Him without hesitation. Everything God told him
would happen, happened. He obeyed God and carried out every instruction to its
minutest detail. Now what’s left was the devastation brought about by the flood.
Where should he begin? The first thought he had then would be telling. Verse 20
shows us what was on his mind. The Creator God. The one whom He had walked with
and obeyed unquestioningly. It must have dawned on him how right it was for him
to trust God. So He must come first, all else can wait. He built an altar to
God.
Noah remembered God. When he saw
the devastation of the flood, he knew exactly what grace meant. He knew he needed
to start life right. The first place to begin right with life is an altar to
God. Without Him nothing else matters. Building an altar to God is the most
important thing and must be the first thing in life. Not only was it for Noah but
also for everyone who wants to experience life’s real purpose. We live to
worship God. Life only has meaning and fulfilment when we begin and continue endlessly
to connect with God. He must take first place in our life. The altar is the place
we need to stay connected with Him. It is where exchange with the divine takes
place. Noah knew that. So it was the first thing He did after the flood. What
about us? Where Noah started must also be the place where each one of us must
start. The first altar we need to build to God is our relationship with Christ.
He is the altar of sacrifice we begin with. But along life’s journey, we will
need to build many altars of rededications to Him.
The offering Noah brought to God
was also telling. He only brought the clean animals and birds as offerings to
Him. We need to underscore the word clean. It suggests that we need to bring to
God what’s pure. The reason for the flood was the rising tide of evil and
wickedness. Now that Noah was starting the world anew, it was needful to get
things right. More than offering to God what’s pure, we need to give Him what
He’s worthy of. Let us offer to God our life as a sweet aroma to Him. A right
offering to God means that we think, do and live right, to bring honour to His name.
What Noah did brought a response
from God. It triggered the grace of God. He promised never again to destroy mankind
in such a devastating way. Verse 21 shows us that God had chosen to be gracious
and forbearing. We are all living under His magnificent grace. He knew the nature
that we have adopted since Adam’s fall. He understands what man’s carnal nature
would make man do. He knew the nature of man after the fall needs dealing, but
He will never do so with a flood ever again. God had allowed the law that He had
set in motion to continue to take place. Day and night, seasons, sowing and harvesting
are laws He had set in motion and will continue to take place. Again God had
made us beings with the liberty to make our own choice. He left the option to choose
wisely, to man. So chose to build an altar to Him with our life.
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