thanks for clearing that up for me, god!

     This morning, as I ran on the elliptical, I was listening in Isaiah. All of a sudden, I was listening in Genesis.
     I grabbed my phone to "correct" the error, but was prompted to just listen... as if, Someone had done it for my benefit.
     Sure enough, after listening for a few moments, I heard something that shocked me. I had been mistaken, or forgotten, that God DID tell Noah to go into the ark in this order: 1) him, 2) his sons, 3) his wife, 4) his son's wives. (Gen 7:7 & 13)
     God told him to go in in this order, and that's what Noah did.
     Excellent!
     Except, I'd been thinking God had told Noah's wife to go in right after him, before his sons.
     I'd been SO sure about this, that I hopped OFF the elliptical and starting searching for where I'd read that--because, it's important!
     I found it in Genesis 8:16. It was AFTER the flood!
     In Gen 7, before the flood, in a broken world, God told Noah to take them in the old, broken way. But in Gen 8, after the flood, God told Noah to bring them out in the new, restored way.
     Noah was so faithful before and during the flood, but he really struggled after the flood.
   We're all familiar with the story of his drunken shame, but it started earlier than that, when he failed to follow God's instructions re: the order of getting off the boat.
   In Genesis 8:16, God said, "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives." But in verse 18, it says, "So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives."

   This morning, God thought it was a priority to "miraculously" grab my attention and clear that up for me while I ran on the elliptical! May I leave you with 4 points to ponder?

1. God is quite able to "change the channel" of our thoughts, without our help, anytime.
   
2. God loves women as much as men! Have faith in God!
   
3. God is into details. It did matter what order they got on and off the boat.
   
4. God is always moving us from faith to faith, even when the way He does it freaks us out! Noah was totally freaked out after the flood. No wonder, right?! The ENTIRE world was flooded once he finished building that boat! BUT GOD... God intended it for good--for Noah, his family, and the world.

When God assigns us a task, we must let HIM deal with the consequences while we walk out the assignment, in His strength, and receive the blessings of relational cooperation.

​thanks for clearing that up for me, god! marnie