As years passed, more and more people filled the earth. But they
no longer listened to God. Instead, they spent every hour
of every day thinking up ways to hurt and destroy, ways to
cheat and to steal.
God grew very sad as He looked upon His people. Each
time they lied or killed or hurt one another, His heart
would fill with pain, until one day God was sorry that He
had even made them. Finally, God said, "I will get rid of
mankind entirely. In fact, I will remove all that moves and
breathes from the face of the earth—man and animals
and birds."
But before God wiped the entire earth clean, He thought about His
good friend, Noah.
Noah had always done what was right, and he had always listened to
God. And not only did Noah listen to God, but he always did
whatever God told him!
So God told Noah to build an enormous ark—a gigantic boat! It
would be bigger than anything that had ever been built before.
Noah listened carefully as God explained, step by step, how to
make this ark.
Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, gathered everything
they needed and began to build.
God Keeps His Promise
God promised Noah that if he would obey and trust him, God would keep Noah and his family safe in the boat. God did not say he would take Noah out of the flood, but he did promise to bring Noah safely through it.
At times, we feel as though we are drowning in a flood of troubles. Financial roblems weigh us down. Personal relationships are battered by powerful, frightening waves. Problems seem to pour in faster than we can bail them out.
During these times, remember God's word to us. He promises that if we obey and trust him, he won't let us down.
