Genesis 6-11
The Story of Noah & Babel
Week 2 July 22 – July 26, 2019
Monday July 22
Building the Ark – Genesis 6
It’s important to remember that Noah loved God, even when nobody else in the entire world had any love or respect for the Lord. Instead of letting other people tell him what to do, Noah decided to follow God, and his reward was that he got to stay alive after the flood! It’s important that we do the right thing and follow God, even when it feels like nobody else is doing the right thing. We’re often in situations where it would be easier and more comfortable to just go along with what everyone else is doing. Sometimes it’s our classmates/co-workers, friends, or even family members. You will often find yourself facing a choice of whether or not to do the right thing according to God. There are consequences to our actions and, just like Noah, we decide what our future will be like based on whether we do the right thing or the wrong thing today. Our future circumstances are based on our current obedience.
Fun Fact: It is estimated that the ark could have held 45,000 animals!
Activity: Is there an area of your life where you are compromising your integrity because it makes your friends, or whoever you spend time with, happy? Or maybe you haven’t had the integrity you should have with your finances or another area of your life, because you think it will make you happy. Making others happy, or even ourselves, is a short term solution that causes long term problems. Pray and ask God to forgive you for not doing the right thing, and for help to do what you know is right. Reach out to your christian friend, spouse, or family member who helps to keep you accountable. Let the family of God build you up in this area and help you to sustain your resolve to do the right thing, even when it’s hard.
With Children: Make an animal puppet(or two!) using a paper bag or an old sock! Use spare buttons, some thread, paper, markers, whatever you can find to make your puppet into an animal that lived on the ark. Then you can act out the animals getting into the ark. The ark can be whatever you have, a shoe box, a toy drum turned upside down, just use your imagination! With younger children you may just want to use the toys you already have instead of making a puppet. Either way, get down on your child’s level and take a moment to play and use your imagination.
Tuesday July 23
The Flood – Genesis 7
Noah surely felt that he had no control over what was happening while on the boat, but he trusted God and he was safe. In a similar way, there are often storms in our lives. God is gracious to give us his Word and the Holy Spirit to guide us even when we don’t know exactly what is coming next in life. Nothing is a surprise to Him. Our daily obedience to God is the equivalent of building our own ark. Each day we add a few more boards and nails, according to the plans that God has laid out for us. We might not know just how difficult things will get in the future, but we can keep trusting God and doing the work he has set for us to do. It must have been very scary during all of the rain, the thunder, and the waves, but God had a wonderful salvation plan for Noah – just as he does for you. Whatever happens in this life, we can know for certain that it will end in a beautiful eternity spent with God, where there is no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more worldly troubles. When we commit our lives to Jesus and living according to his ways, we can know for certain that everything will turn out perfect in the end.
Activity: Write out a list of the parts of your life that feel out of your control. As you look at each point, pray and offer that part of your life to God. Acknowledge your lack of control and tell God that you know he is in control, and you believe that He will work it all out for the best. Remember that no matter what happens here, we can have peace knowing that God does have control. We simply have to trust Him, follow Him, and know that he will redeem any situation if we submit to Him.
With Children: Help your child to make their own list of areas in their life that they need God’s help. This could include school work, friendships, their pet. Anything that is important to them is worth discussing and adding to the list. Then pray over the list, asking for God’s help with each point and telling God that you trust him. With younger children, they may not be able to come up with a list on their own, but you can write one out for them and help them to practice praying while you pray over their list.
Wednesday July 24
The Rainbow – Genesis 8-9:17
God sent us the rainbow to remind us of the covenant he made with man and all living creatures. The covenant consists of 3 things:
- Never again will he flood the entire earth.
- We will always have the 4 seasons.
- Whenever it rains, a rainbow will be visible as a sign to everyone that God keeps his promises.
When you look up the word covenant, it is defined as a promise or vow that has a consequence if broken. It is interesting to note that this is the only covenant in the entire Bible that comes without a consequence or requirement. The only requirement is the one that God places on himself, which is to never flood the earth again. There are many promises that God makes in his Word and as we read through and study those, we can rest assured that God keeps his promises! The earth had become so filled with evil that God had to basically start over. That will never happen again because we now have Jesus, to save and redeem us from whatever sin may seek to control us. Even here, we see God making a new plan for salvation and the coming of a Savior.
Activity: Go find a rainbow, take a snapshot in your mind(or a take a picture for real!), and keep that picture as a reminder that God keeps his promises! That even here in the early stages of the new earth, God was thinking of you and how he could make a way to be with you forever. Taking away all of the sin that weighs you down, making you healed and whole and perfect with him in eternity. Thank God. You may not find a rainbow in the sky today, depending on the weather, but God gives us glimpses of this promise in other ways, too!
With Children: Go on a rainbow hunt! Blow some bubbles and watch as the sun makes tiny rainbows on each one. Spray a garden hose into the air, set on a fine mist, and watch as God’s promise appears. You will need some sunlight!
Thursday July 25
Noah and His Sons – Genesis 9:18-10
Noah set a poor example for his sons and in return Ham was disrespectful to his father. By running and telling others what he had seen, he took the wrong of another person and put himself in the wrong as well. His brothers honored their father by giving him a blanket to cover up, so that he would not be shamed. They looked the other way while laying the blanket on Noah, so that they would not see him naked. When we see that a person is doing something wrong, we often feel the impulse to run and tell someone else, so they can see it too! Just like Ham, we sometimes want to let others in on the secret of someone else’s sin. Instead, we ought to be more like Ham’s two brothers Shem and Japheth. When we see someone in Noah’s state, caught up in their sin, our first thought should be about what we can do to help them. We are supposed to love each other and when we see someone we love in trouble, we stop to do whatever we can to help them out of that trouble. One of the greatest things we can do for another person is to show them mercy when they are in the wrong. It’s not that we facilitate sinful behavior, but that we offer someone the opportunity to take a step up instead of pushing them further down. Because Ham was disrespectful to his father Noah, his sons and grandsons were not blessed like the families of his brothers. Many nations came from Noah’s 3 sons. In the future, Ham’s family is defeated in battle by the families of Shem and Japheth.
Activity: Is there a friend or family member that you haven’t checked in with in a while? Maybe they’ve taken a different path from you, taken a misstep, and you’ve just drifted apart. Send them a text today, or even give them a call, letting them know that they are being prayed for and that you believe in them! Don’t discuss faults, just encourage them and the positive aspects of their life. Be their cheerleader even if you can’t be their close friend. If it’s appropriate, set a coffee date or meet up at the park for a play date, just to connect and check in. Be a friend even when you don’t have everything in common. Maybe you feel like you’re that friend, who doesn’t have it all together and keeps making mistakes. You can still be the one to reach out and do what you can to resolve any hurt in a relationship. Make sure you’re in a church with supportive people and a pastor who teaches God’s word from the Bible. You can get back in tune with the Lord and set yourself on a healthy course.
With Children: Help your child come up with ways that they can help someone today. It can be as simple as jumping in with a chore that’s not usually theirs, or serving with a charity in your community. Even a toddler can help pick up toys or carry a dish from the table. It’s so much nicer to help someone than to belittle them in their time of need!
Friday July 26
The Tower of Babel – Genesis 11
The people in this story start out by wanting to build a city and a tower to make the city visible. Their purpose in this was so that they could all stay together and not spread out too far, and also to make themselves famous. This was directly against what God had told the people to do, which was to spread over all the earth and multiply. God saw that their actions were sinful and that they would only continue to work together toward more sin, so he struck them with different languages and the city could not continue on. The people were dispersed and God’s will was completed. How often do we disobey God in a way that might not seem so bad to us? Like the people of Babel, we can fall into thinking that even though we’re disobeying God that it’s not that bad. That because what we’re doing looks or feels good, that makes it okay. Have you ever done something that seemed good to you, you worked really hard on it, and it failed? Failure is not necessarily a sign of sin, but it is a reminder to consider our motives and whether we are acting in obedience or out of selfishness. Similarly, we can have success in a project but find that it does not satisfy us in the way we had hoped. Likely, God wasn’t in it and we did not consult Him before we jumped in with both feet.
Activity: What is something you are working on right now? Before you continue to move forward with this job, stop and consider if this is what God wants you to do. Surely you’re doing this work because it seems good to you, but you need to ask, “Is this correct according to God?” Pray and ask God to help you discern the right thing to do and give him the authority to guide your life in His way.
With Children: Whenever you give a child correction, they can come up with any excuse or reason for why they’re doing what they’re doing! Just as God does for us, as parents we often know what is best in a situation while a child just can’t see it. They don’t have the full understanding that we do, because they don’t have our perspective. While we want to reason calmly with our children, it is important that they ask permission before they do something and it’s important that they obey our answer. Read this together, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” -Ephesians 6:1-4 Make this promise to your children that you will bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord and ask them to promise to obey you and do the right thing. Pray together that God would help you to do these things correctly, and that you would both obey God.
