Read: Genesis 8
The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. (v. 4)
When we think of a “mountaintop experience,” we often imagine something euphoric: the clouds parting and light pouring through, allowing us to see the world with renewed vision. In Genesis 8, Noah experiences a mountaintop experience of a very different sort—a grounding in the middle of a flood.
Noah was “a righteous man, blameless in his generation” (Gen. 6:9), yet “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (v. 5 NIV). The curse of Adam’s first sin in the garden had blossomed into a disease that infected the entire creation, and God decided to undo it all. The wild waters out of which he had first made land rushed back in and flooded the earth. But God plucked Noah and his family from the waters and placed them on a boat—a floating Eden—for forty days.
I can only imagine the fear Noah and his family felt when the ark landed on Mount Ararat, but the floodwaters were still high. Perhaps he wrestled with God, or even became angry. But God made a wind blow until “the earth had dried out” (v. 14) and promised never again to destroy the earth (v. 21). God, after all, does not delight in punishing his created ones. In this story, the wreck leads to Noah meeting God. And de-creation leads to re-creation through Noah’s family—and eventually Jesus. Through Jesus, even in the floodwaters of your life, you can meet God and be changed by him too.
As you pray, ask God to show you how his purposes are playing out even through the worst of circumstances.
Justin Kuiper is a student from Holland, MI, studying English literature at Hope College. His own writing explores the many intersections of faith, storytelling, and the created order. Justin is a life-long soccer fan and plays on the Hope College soccer team.
