Daily Readings: Psalm 124; Genesis 8:1-19; Romans 6:1-11

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters gradually receded from the earth.

Genesis 8:1-3a, NRSV

But God Remembered…

That word but confronts all those times we feel forgotten and forsaken, all those times our spirits are low and our hope is all but gone. There are those times in life when it is hard to gather the energy we need to keep on going, all but impossible to endure the tribulations that confront us. It is then that the word but is important. It means despite what we have endured, regardless of how we feel, there is another possibility for us.

But God remembered…

That possibility rests in the remembering of God. God remembers the care with which our world and everything in it—all creation—were formed. God remembers that it was good. And God remembers us. That is good, too. What makes it even better is that God’s remembering isn’t just about the past. It also leads to the future—and a promise. God’s promise was a promise to care. That caring came in a pledge that As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).

It may seem strange to begin the season of Advent reflecting on Genesis. But there is a thread that ties the two together, a thread that runs through the entire Bible. Advent is a time for us to remember—to remember that God remembered and still does. God remembered Noah; God remembered people in need of a savior; God remembers us and our need for a savior. Advent is a time for us to remember God’s remembering. It is only when we do so that we can prepare ourselves to fully receive that great gift of Christ.

Remember.

Offered by Jeff Jones, in whom God delights.