The Floodgates of the Heavens
This is an audio recording of The Floodgates of the Heavens the Day 9 entry in the Today for Seafarers Volume 3 devotional by Dr. Jason Zuidema and David Rozeboom.
Listen to the audio by Sheila Margerrison or read the text below:
“The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and
your whole family, because I have found you righteous in
this generation. Take with you seven pairs of every kind of
clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind
of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs
of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various
kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will
send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I
will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I
have made.”
And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came
on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his
sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to
Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.
And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth
day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the
great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens
were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and
forty nights”
The story of Noah and the flood is not usually described as a journey at sea, but Noah was one of the Bible’s most gifted seafarers. He built a massive ship that housed his family and all kinds of animals. And with God’s help he navigated 40 days and nights of storming and flooding. Then they all waited months for the waters to recede.
It must have been extraordinary to see the waters coming from all directions—from the ground, from the sea, from the sky—a cataclysm bringing destruction on the earth. Though Noah had built the ship and prepared for this over many years, the force of the storm and the scale of devastation must been shocking and overwhelming for Noah and his family.
Yet God had prepared a way of salvation. God taught Noah how to build the ark. And when the flood came, God guided Noah, his family, and all the animals to a place where they could land. God also promised that a flood like that would never come again.
The Bible shows that God’s justice flows together with his love and mercy. Despite the trauma and destruction of the flood, God provides shelter and promises new and full life. Today we see this even more clearly in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for all who believe in him!
For Further Thought
Did you notice how God warned about the coming flood? What about all the animals? How were they taken into the ark?
God still gives us warning—how is the story of Noah and the ark a picture of our salvation through Jesus?
Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. Do you honour him in every aspect of your life on board ship or at home?
Prayer
Father in heaven, thank you for always being faithful to your promises. Protect us in the storms of life, and guide us in your mercy. Amen.
