12-1/2 months

Genesis 8-11 finishes out Noah's little cruise. I found it interesting that in the NLT version we're told that Noah was on the ark for 12-1/2 months - say what!? All we ever hear is that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, not 376 days and 376 nights!!! YIKES! Can you imagine!? A whole year stuck on this boat, not going outside, no other humans but the 8 of you and a bunch of big, nasty, smelly, not to mention scary, animals! And we think that a rough patch that lasts a couple of months is bad! Then people have the nerve to judge poor old Noah when he gets drunk, there weren't counselors back in those days, not to mention, even if there were they would have all been killed in the flood.

I can't imagine the trauma this family endured in their minds, emotions, spirits and physical bodies. No one left. Not a single person on the planet. Sounds like a Will Smith movie. Then, your told by the same God who basically wiped out the human race, go repopulate the earth. Excuse me, do what? Seems like quite the task if you ask me. But God had faith. He had faith in Noah and his family that they would do what was needed. And God had faith in the human race, that we wouldn't be a mistake, He wouldn't regret us, we were worth the chance.

Do you see that? God didn't have to repopulate the earth. He didn't have to spare Noah, but He did. Why? Because the human race had such a great track record? Because He gets so much back for His investment? No. I believe He allowed humans to continue as a species because He not only loves us, but He likes us.

Have you ever noticed that there are very few families that have only 1 child? Even with all the trouble the 1st baby you have gives you, all the money he costs you, all the energy, tears and frustration, most people choose to do it again, and again. We are made in the image of God, the inherent understanding of right and wrong in our hearts is because of Him, and I believe that the absolute, unexplainable love that parents have for their children is also there because of Him, because it's how He is.

God didn't throw out the whole human race because He loves us. Could He maybe have skipped Calvary if the earth was void of people? I don't know, that's probably some big theological debate that I don't have the schooling for, but I do know that He knew how the original humans treated Him, He knew Calvary was on the agenda and He still chose to do it all again. He chose to make me, He chose to make you, no mistake about it. He could have wiped everyone out at the flood, but He didn't, He looked thousands of years into the future and He saw the year 2010 and He saw us, each one of us, and He loved us and didn't want a world without us.