January 18

Today's reading: Genesis 9:1-29

God gives Noah the very same command he had earlier given to Adam and Eve - Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. But because of the impact of sin, there are some significant differences between the world Adam and Eve faced and the one that Noah and hid family face. The animals will no longer live in harmony with man and with each other and have now become food for man. Interestingly, when Jesus returns, God is going to restore things to the way they were originally (see Isaiah 11:6).

God makes a covenant with Noah to never again flood the earth and gives Noah a sign that is to be a reminder of that covenant - the rainbow. It is heartbreaking to see how our culture has taken that sign of God's mercy and hijacked it as a symbol of something that God declares to be sinful.

Unfortunately not even going through the flood is enough to keep Noah and his family from sinning. That is a reminder to us that we are incapable of living s sinless life because we all have a sin nature. Thankfully, in Jesus, we have a way to have that sin forgiven and our shame taken away.