The length of time it takes for the earth to be ready to receive Noah, his family, and his collection of animals shows us just how cataclysmic the judgement of God has been. After the ark settled on the mountain, it still took weeks until the ground was completely dry.

Noah and his family emerged from the ark to a world wiped clean, and with the expectation that they would, along with all the creatures, multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number. Despite all that has happened, the order created by God, generation after generation as we saw in chapter 5, remains.

This second start will be the last. Despite the sin that is still in the heart of man, God says to himself that he will never again curse the ground or destroy all living creatures. Mankind will go forth, and God will sustain his creation.

It’s Noah’s sacrifice that prompts this decision in God’s heart. This burnt offering – a sign of worship and complete devotion to the Lord – is exactly the right way for Noah to begin this new phase of mankind’s existence on the earth. His first thought on dry land is of the Lord, and that moves the Lord’s heart. Our worship matters to God. Our devotion means something to him. He is not detached from us. He grieves at our rebellion, and delights in our worship.

The final verse of this chapter reminds us of the perfect, enduring order that God created out of the chaos when he spoke the world into being. Sin will continue to bring chaos, but God’s plan to maintain his order will never again involve total destruction of all things. Let us, like Noah, offer him our worship and our devotion, for he alone is worthy of it.

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NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH