January 16

Today's Reading: Genesis 7:1-24

This account is the first time in the Bible that we see a couple themes that we're going to see over and over in the Bible:

• God often takes His people through tribulation rather than rescuing them from that tribulation. What Noah and his family experienced was far different than the cute pictures we often see in childrens' books or painted on the wall of a nursery. Think about what it would have been like to experience the violent waves that would have accompanied the rain and the waters violently bursting forth from the deep. Then they spent over a year on the ark with all those smelly animals. And when the ark finally came to rest on dry land, they would have seen the death and carnage that resulted from the flood.

• Through tribulation God always preserves a faithful remnant. Time after time in the account of Noah we read that Noah did what God had commanded. So God preserved him and his family. Every time that God takes His people through a time of purging, there is always a faithful remnant that proves their faith my their obedience to God.

Maybe you're going through a trial right now. While there is no guarantee God will remove you from that difficulty, He promises to be with you through it. Remember that at least one purpose in our trials is that God wants to prove to us that our faith is genuine.