I find it interesting that today's reading begins with this phrase, "But God remembered Noah." Seems a bit strange. At this point, Noah is one of the eight remaining humans on the planet. How would God forget Noah? But, if you back up you see that the last verse of chapter 7 says, "the waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days." That is a long time. I'm guessing that at some point that Noah felt like he had been forgotten, that his faithfulness had been ignored, that his obedience was not valued. But God remembered Noah.
There are times that I feel like Noah, floating in the floodwaters, waiting for the deluge to subside. In these times it is tempting to think that God has forgotten me, but he always remembers. He is always faithful. However, like Noah, I need to continue to be obedient, to shovel the poop, feed the monkeys. I don't like that answer, the "just keep enduring" answer. I want him to pull the cosmic drain plug and wash it all away instantly. But, far more often the answer is to just keep shoveling the poop.
A couple of fun questions to discuss in the comments.
1. God specifically gives humanity permission to eat meat after the flood. Why? Why the forced vegetarianism previously?
2. The word translated "rainbow" in many translations is actually the word for bow, as in hunting bow. Does reading it this way change anything for you? Is there significance to God hanging up his "bow" after the flood?
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