God Remembers, Even When He’s Silent

Verse of the day: Genesis 8:1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

Does God ever forget? The short answer to that would be, “no”. The expression here that “God remembered Noah” is, as some commentators have put it, “an expression after the manner of men”. God made is clear in His Word that He forgets neither man, nor any of His creation, and considers even the cattle (Luke 12:6; Isaiah 49:15-16; Jonah 4:11). We can only imagine that at this point, after being afloat on the flood waters for about a year, and not hearing from God in about five months, the mind of any believer would begin to question what was happening or if God was even paying attention at this point. The truth of the matter is that there will be times when we follow God’s will and plan for our lives, and while carrying it out we will face great challenges. To think that we will not face some difficulties, even in living out God’s plan for our lives, is not wise on our part. All born again believers must grow in our faith, and part of growing is learning how to trust God. Learning to trust God means learning how to go through the difficult moments, and the moments when it seems that God has grown silent, still trusting that He is there. Even King David, a man after God’s own heart, experienced those times when He cried out to God because of the silence He experienced during some of his most trying times. Psalm 13 is a great example of one of those times; it reads as follows:

1 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”;
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

5 But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Although he felt as if God had forgotten him, King David also knew in his heart, and by faith, that he could trust God to hear him and deliver him, as we see the shift in verse 5. Imagine being in Noah’s place on the ark. Every living creature, and your family, all under your care, inside a vessel that rocks and creeks as it stays afloat, with no land to rest on, and not knowing how long you would be confined to it. Many of us have a difficult time, and get impatient, just waiting in line to pay for item we purchased in a store; never mind waiting a year inside a vessel, with no windows, not knowing what is going on outside, and God suddenly becoming silent for months at a time. What great faith Noah must have had to continue trusting God under these conditions. Yet, how often does our faith waver for much less? The bottom line is that God never forgets His people or the rest of His creation, even when He grows silent. Just like all creatures paid the price for man’s sinfulness; here, all His creatures were blessed by the grace God chose to show Noah and his family. Not only did God remember Noah at this time, but He once again demonstrated the power He possesses by commanding the winds, and causing the flood waters to subside, so that the ark could finally rest on dry land. Regardless of what God allows us to go through in life, He is always with us, He never forgets us, and in the end He always shows us His undeserved goodness toward us.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing their sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).