Category: Devotions

As I turn the page this morning and read Genesis 10, I think of my friend who recently held a party for all his relatives, with 90 in attendance. I don’t think I have anywhere near that number actually alive!

Chapter 10 is one of those chapters we would all skim over. It looks a bit like this:

“This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood. The Japhethites. The sonsof Japheth … The Hamites. The sons of Ham … These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations. The Semites … Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber. The sons of Shem … These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these, the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.” (Genesis 10)

Between these names, there are many other descendants listed.

As in all family trees, we have the good, the bad and the ugly. If you have traced your ancestry, then you know behind each name is a story in itself of faithfulness or failure.

A closer look at chapter 10 reveals names that appear later in the Biblical account.  The Canaanites, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the list from Shem, which becomes the line of Christ, which we see in Luke.

These people, as in our ancestry, can no longer speak; they can no longer defend or accuse; they cannot fix any error or achieve unfulfilled opportunities.

Life is so short, isn’t it? What will they say about you and me?

Will our story have touches of grace and love? Of walking with God?

Today is another day of writing your story that people will be speaking about long after you’re not here. The choices don’t necessarily have to be big ones, but choosing to forgive, showing up when you would rather not, or being patient instead of angry, these become a legacy passed down.

One more thing, you can break the pattern from a previous generation, or you can repeat it.

When Noah was 600 years old and he stepped out of that ark, he could not have imagined what was to come. He did not know the stories of Abraham coming down his generational line. He would never have known about a nation called Israel. Or the written word of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Let’s go further. He would never have imagined a virgin in Nazareth, a cross at Calvary, and an empty tomb three days later! He would not have known the ark was the forerunner of the salvation known through Jesus.

“After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹ Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.” (Genesis 9 v 28-29)

On Friday, 7th November 2025, just a few days ago, a 100-year-old war veteran was being interviewed. Alec Penstone had joined the Royal Navy as a young man, given his life for his country, and survived. Recalling his friends who had lost their lives, with tears in his eyes, he was asked what Remembrance Sunday meant to him. He said that winning the war was ‘not worth’ how the country had turned out today.

Hold that thought.

Noah lived 350 years after the flood.

There is nothing about Noah in these years. He just lived. He just kept going.

I wonder if, when he spoke of the world before the flood, tears came to his eyes as they did to Alec Penstone?

I wonder, as he saw the Tower of Babel being built, did he think the ark was worth it?

He had seen the worst of humanity, the destruction of society, and the moment of reset for the world. What were his thoughts as he saw the decline of the world that God had saved?

One day, the exact five words that are in v29 will be applied to us all, “and then he died.”

He lived a long time, but it still applied to him.

The man who survived the death of the world still died himself.

Here’s another question: how is your life going?

Sometimes walking with God is simply living. In a world that is declining in values. A world that hurts one another. In a world that still hears a gospel of repentance. Thankfully, many are responding to it, and sadly, too many are not.

But we continue to remember what God has done for us and through us.

Three hundred and fifty years of continuing. Thankfully, not that many!

And then … we’re home.

Is it worth it?

Is faithfulness worth it when it costs me everything?
Is obedience worth it when I can’t see the purpose?
Is survival worth it when everyone I loved is gone?
Is continuing worth it when I’m exhausted?

You may not know the complete answer in this lifetime. Many around the world, hanging onto their faith, under cruel persecution, will know, like us, after, “and then he died.”

But oh, the joy of knowing it really was, then!!

So we come to the end of the story of Noah, and we do so with a confusing story that is ambiguous at best. It has caused a millennium of debate.

Here is our righteous, faith-man, walker with God, Noah, drunk and lying naked in his tent. So many questions, few answers, and we end with a curse that would reach down the generations.

If, like me, you may be wondering why it seems that Ham’s sin (whatever that was) was greater than his father’s. It brings confusion very early in the Bible story that we haven’t been able to perfect after all these years. We struggle with many questions, and the main one is: How do we handle the sinner? But let’s read.

“Noah, a man of the soil, proceededto plant a vineyard. ²¹ When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of enslaved people will he be to his brothers.” ²⁶ He also said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. ²⁷ May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.” (Genesis 9 v 20-27)

Noah gets drunk. He wasn’t expecting to, presumably, because he lay naked in his tent.

Then Ham “saw his father naked and told”.

What does this mean? What did Ham do that led to the curse on him and his descendants? Was this simple mockery —laughing at his father in front of his brothers? Was it worse than this? Did Ham violate his father in some way in his tent? Is the problem that Ham saw his father’s sin and did nothing to restore it? (I wonder if Paul was thinking about this when he wrote, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.” (Galatians 6:1)

Something happened. Not the drunkenness, that was obvious, but something hidden behind the text, and even if it was, as it states, that Ham was saying what he saw, his brothers did what he should have done.

Shem and Japheth refuse to participate in their father’s shame. They take a garment, walk in backward, and cover Noah without looking. It’s an act of deliberate, almost exaggerated respect.

Covering shame was sacred; exposing it was worse.

When Noah wakes and hears of what Ham, his son, had done, he curses the sons and the daughters that would come from Ham.

Where is your focus? Noah’s sin or Ham’s disrespect of the sinner?

It is a big question. An uncomfortable one, perhaps.

Noah’s sin is not ignored. It was a sin. But the story is focusing on the other two sons and their response to it.

Perhaps we are just meant to struggle with this story.

Sin is messy. Sorting out the consequences of sin is difficult. Responding to the sinner is always done by the imperfect.

We can be thankful for this disturbing story as we move into the Bible story. We know we will find so many similar stories. What do we know?

1. Even the heroes of our lives fail.
2. Salacious reporting is as wrong as the story itself.
3. What we do today can hurt those who follow us.

Perhaps the gospel is good news to those who are vulnerable, carried by those who treat others as they would want to be treated when they, too, fall into sin.

So they’re all out of the ark, and we’re introduced again to Noah’s sons.

 ^“The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japhet. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.” (Genesis 9 v 18-19)

Can you reread this remarkable statement? God built the world from one family. We trace back to these sons that came out of the ark.

He didn’t create from the dust again. Every tribe and tongue, every culture and ethnicity, is here at least in seed form.

So the mission to go into all the world that Jesus gave to each one of us was, in essence, saying, ‘reach the family’. In every language and skin colour, the image of God would be seen; scattered across the earth, not for division and borders, but to fill the world with the image of God.

So what does this mean for us?

1. The evil atrocities in Gaza or northern Nigeria, in Russia, Ukraine, and the list goes on, and even in the street around the corner from where you live, are with people who carry the same ancestry as those three sons of that man of faith who walked with God, Noah.
2. Every person is made in the image of God, so when we speak ill against someone, killing them with words or actions, we are hurting the image of God in them.
3. If God reached the whole earth eventually through 3 sons, what can He do with you and me? All He needs is your faithfulness to Him.

I wonder how things would be if we treated people like family?

Generally speaking, we don’t give up on family, do we?

Who is that annoying person? Maybe at work or someone who lives nearby. If you saw them as family, what would change? With family, you see them at their worst, but you don’t walk away. You remain committed to them. You don’t demand perfection. You don’t hold them at arm’s length. You give them grace.

Maybe the world is waiting for family.

Maya Angelou’s voice (1928-2014), captured on Coldplay’s album, Moon Music, carries ancient wisdom in her gentle voice. An African American spiritual singer who speaks of rainbows appearing when “it looked like the sun wasn’t gonna’ shine anymore. God put a rainbow in the clouds.” Her words trail off with wonder: “And I’ve had so many rainbows in my clouds. I had a lot of clouds, but I have had so many rainbows.” God is still putting rainbows in the skies.

Has the sun stopped shining on you today? Is that how you describe what has happened to you? Well, wait … it may mark the most significant event of your life. There is a rainbow in the clouds for you.

This could be the start of a new PROMISE from your God.

If God has allowed darkness to settle over your life today, He is orchestrating something seismic. Wait for Him. His work remains unfinished. Your rainbow is forming in the clouds.

“And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” ¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” (Genesis 9 v 12-17)

God could have said, “If man does it again, then they know what is coming again!” But he didn’t. Instead, He painted a rainbow and made a covenant. He chose something that needs both a storm and the sun as a reminder. There are days when we get both, don’t we?

Today, you may wake to your storm clouds gathering; grief and loss are here, and you wonder if you will survive. God has promised you that neither circumstances nor your own behaviour will cause His mercy to protect you. No. But His covenant does.

God keeps His promises.

Remember the rainbow.

What did the Apostle John see on the island of Patmos in his vision (Revelation 4:3)? Trapped on the island, desiring to be free, living at a time of massive oppression from evil Emperors. He sees a rainbow and He remembers the covenant-keeping God.

Between Genesis 9 and Revelation 4 stands another covenant. It is like the rainbow; it has nothing to do with our behaviour or commitment; His grace entirely holds it. It is the new covenant in Christ’s blood; it is the cross.

Your ‘world’ today may not be what you want it to be. You may feel uncertain and wish you were somewhere completely different. You may deserve judgment. You may have experienced floods of anxiety and uncertainty. Look up. There is a covenant in the skies. Don’t marvel at the colours, but at the character of God revealed. He is faithful to His promises. God remembers. If the clouds gather over you today, remember in Him you will not go under, and even if you do, He will raise you.

The flood has ended. The ground is dry. The altar has been built and lit, and God begins to make promises to Noah and to us. It’s a new beginning. God uses the exact words that He used to Adam; you will recognize them right away. God, in effect, was saying, ‘Let’s try this again.’

But of course, everything has changed. Sin has entered the world, and we are aware of it. Violence surrounds us, and fear fights for our hearts. How can we endure? We do so with a covenant-keeping God who promises, ‘I won’t do that again.’ God offers grace and mercy to the world, allowing us to start anew. Today, we can pray the start-again prayer.

“Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ² The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. ³ Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. ⁴ “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. ⁵ And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. ⁶ “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind. ⁷ As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” ⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” (Genesis 9 v 1-11)

 God can start again with you.

 He did it with Noah.

 God will start again with you.

 These are five prayers we can pray today:

 “Start again with me, God: Give me a reason to live” (God said: be fruitful, increase, fill the earth, multiply)

 “Start again with me, God: Provide for my life” (God said: I give you everything, not just the green plants)

 “Start again with me, God: Fashion me into your image (God said: in the image of God has God made man)

 “Start again with me, God: Align me with your ways (God said: But you must not …)

 “Start again with me, God: I choose to live under your covenant over my life sealed with Christ’s blood (God said: I make a covenant)

 Some seasons we mess up, but that season can have a new beginning.

 Start again, God, start with me.

What was the first thing Noah did when he stepped off the ark?

What did Noah do with some of the animals he had saved in the ark?

“Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even thoughevery inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8 v 20-22)

The very first thing he did was build an altar. The door opens, and they have survived the catastrophe; everyone is released. They walk around, observing the biggest reset moment the world has ever known. It is right then, at that very moment, that Noah begins knocking nails into wood again, maybe from the ark that saved them. He builds an altar and places some animals that are clean for eating and sacrifices them—proof that he does not own them. Everything belongs to God.

This was more than just a prayer. This was more than a song. It required more effort from Noah. It took more time. This was and is worship.

This wasn’t just any religious ritual he recognized; it was genuine gratitude. He understood his survival was thanks to God. It shows the heart behind this man.

We all enjoy the smell of a bonfire or, even better, a BBQ aroma. It seems God does too. However, Moses, in writing this account, doesn’t mean to suggest that God has nostrils or other physical features. Instead, he is trying to show that God was pleased with the attitude behind the altar. Putting God first, acknowledging Him before anything else—what we call worship—paved the way for God to make a promise that this worldwide disaster would never happen again.

Noah might have had many reasons not to do this. They needed every animal for the world’s largest breeding program. It was costly for Noah.

Worship always does.

Worship consistently puts God first.

Worship always points to who the Saviour really is. It says, ‘this is not because of me, it is Him’.

Worship always dedicates the start of a new season.

Worship is not a monologue but a dialogue. Noah was speaking to God through the altar, and God responded.

Worship is a place of Divine exchange.

The invitation to build an altar is still there.

Before you start your day with all of its activities and you meet with God in prayer; your decision to give generously even when it means you have to sacrifice what you were going to buy for yourself; the decision to volunteer to help when all you want to do is have time for yourself; it is intentional; it takes effort; you are building an altar; worship.

The invitation is now: worship.

Worship says, ‘This is Yours, God.’

The response is still grace, in that God commits to loving us even though He knows we will sin. His response is still mercy: in every seasonal change —when the leaves fall to the ground, when the winter cold comes, when the spring of new life emerges, and when the glorious heat of summer descends —this is God, the faithful God who has not and will not abandon us.

Today may be the day for you to leave the comfort zone that you have been in while the flood has been happening. You have been waiting not for the rain to stop nor for the waters to recede, not even to see dry ground. You have been waiting for the voice of God. The One who called you into the safety of the ark is the One who will call you out of it. There is a time to shelter and a time to move out.

“Then God said to Noah,’Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.” So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.” (Genesis 8 v 15-19)

Moving into the next season requires care and wisdom. When the ark door was opened, there wasn’t a stampede. Can you imagine if there had been? But they came out, ‘one kind after another’.

Whatever the order was, there was a sense of order.

If God is calling you into a new season, don’t rush into it. Take it one step at a time.

This next season will be new to you. Noah had never lived in this new world after the flood. Everything was transformed. Yet, the same creation command remained: multiply and increase. This is the mandate for your life: to let your life improve, grow, and succeed. All that you have discovered while in the place of safety, bring it with you. All that you protected, bring it with you.

You may have had dreams in that safe place. You may have developed new gifts. Above all, you may have changed and grown. The person you were before entering the ark of safety is not the same person coming out. God isn’t asking you to leave all these things behind. He is calling you to carry them with you and within you so you can flourish in this new season.

Maybe today you’re standing at the open door, feeling a little overwhelmed about what comes next. Let me tell you this: you take one step forward, and that’s enough. Move at your own pace, but keep moving forward. Soon, you’ll look back and see the joys of this new day.

The temptation of your TODAY is to act rather than wait for your TOMORROW. This goes against what we have probably believed our entire lives. Why wait for tomorrow when you can do it today?

“By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the ground was dry. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was parched.” (Genesis 8 v 13-14)

It is the 601st year of Noah’s life, and it is the first day of the first month. It feels like the start of a new year that we all experience on January 1st. It is a good day to act—a reset moment, a day to begin again. These can be good starting points. But Noah waited.

Then we notice a small detail that can easily be overlooked. Noah peels away part of the covering that protected them from the heavy rain. After surviving in the darkness of the ark, with its smells and noise, can you imagine the thrill of pulling back even a part of the covering, letting in the sunlight and a breath of fresh air? It must have been so exhilarating. This is a moment in all our lives that we need more of. This is a look moment, not a sign to leave. Noah waits again.

We need to slow down and remind ourselves that Noah isn’t disembarking yet, even though everything looks positive. The timing is right; the rain has stopped; the ground appears dry.

One more month and 27 days pass. Noah knew what we need to understand: what looks correct doesn’t mean it’s ready for us yet. Restraint is crucial for our discipleship.

In our lives, on so many occasions, we face the temptation to get things back to normal. None more so when we have gone through some traumatic experience. We want to move on to the next season. The dangerous time can be when all the signs point to it being that moment. Looking better may not be the starting gun to go ahead. Hold your nerve, wait, what looks dry is not completely dry. You need a good foundation; it will come. Wait a little longer. Forge courage so that you don’t move prematurely into your victory. Every part of you might be crying ‘Now’, but that might not mean ‘Move’.

Many who read this short devotion will have had these moments, and perhaps some are in them right now. Wait. Just a little longer. Dry is not completely dry.

We dislike waiting. We want our prayers answered immediately. We live in an instant world. Get it now, even if we have to pay for it later.

One thing we often forget about Noah and the ark is the times Noah had to wait. For seven days, Noah stayed and then …

“He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. ¹² He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.” (Genesis 8 v 10-12)

Keep waiting, there is an olive tree that is alive, and you are about to receive a leaf from it.

Your olive leaf is on its way. It might already be arriving, carried by the very thing you thought had abandoned you. Maybe it will come in the evening, when you’re tired and close to giving up. It might be smaller than you expected, more subtle, and easy to miss if you’re not paying attention.

But it will arrive. When it does, pay close attention. Hold it in your hands. Let it serve as a reminder that God keeps His promises, that life prevails, and that resurrection is real.

When you do, you’ll realise that the new season of your life is ready for you to step into.

That olive leaf is God saying, “Get ready. What I promised is about to unfold. The new season isn’t just coming; it’s already begun beneath the surface. The life you’ve been praying for, the breakthrough you’ve been believing for, the fresh start you’ve been hoping for, it’s closer than you think.”

And here’s the beautiful part: when your dove finally doesn’t return, when that final confirmation arrives, you’ll be ready. All those seven-day waits will have prepared you. All those empty-handed returns will have taught you to trust. All those olive-leaf moments will have built your faith.

The moment to start over is now.

Not someday. Not eventually. Not in some distant future when everything is perfect.

Now.