ESOCS Devotional 6 December 2023 – God Remembers His Own
MEMORY VERSE: And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged.” Genesis 8:1 KJV
TEXT: GENESIS 8: 1 – 12 (KJV)
And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
The word “remember” in Genesis 8:1 doesn’t mean to call something to mind that may have been forgotten. God can’t forget anything because He knows the end from the beginning. Rather, it means “to pay attention to, to fulfill a promise and act on behalf of somebody.” For example, God’s promise “and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17) means that God doesn’t hold our sins against us and treat us as sinners. Certainly, God knows what we’ve done, but because of our faith in Jesus Christ, our sins are “forgotten.” God deals with us as though our sins had never been committed! The Lord remembers them against us no more.
To remember means to act on behalf of another. God remembered Abraham and rescued Lot from destruction in Sodom (Genesis 19:29). The Lord remembered both Rachel and Hannah and enabled them to conceive and bear sons (Genesis 30:22; 1 Samuel 1:11, 19 The Lord remembered His covenant and delivered the Jews from the bondage of Egypt (Exodus 2:24; 6:5). “To remember” implies a previous commitment made by God and announces the fulfillment of that commitment. Noah, his family, and the animals had been together in the ark for over a year, which is a lot of “togetherness.” Did they ever get impatient with each other or with the animals? There’s no record that God spoke to them after He had shut them into the ark, so perhaps somebody in the family experienced an occasional fleeting fear that maybe God didn’t care for them anymore.
God not only remembered Noah and his family, but He also remembered the animals that were with them in the ark. God spared these creatures so they could live on the renewed earth and reproduce after their kind. It was His desire that His creatures enjoy the earth and contribute to the happiness of the people He had created in His own image. As we shall see later, the animals were included in God’s covenant with Noah.
We can be sure that God never forgets or forsakes His people, not only because of His promises, but also because of His character. Recall Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (NKJV). God is love, and where there’s love, there’s faithfulness. He can never deny Himself or His Word, for He’s the faithful God, and He can never change, because He’s immutable. Because He’s perfect, God can’t change for the better; and because He’s holy, He can’t change for the worse. We can depend on Him no matter what our circumstances or no matter how we feel.
- Are you confused and desperate about an issue, God will remember you today and meet you at that point of your need.
- Oh, remember me for good and fulfill your purpose in my life in Jesus name
FURTHER READING: Genesis 42:1-17; John 4:27–42; Revelation 5:1–14
ESOCS Devotional 6 December 2023
