Re:Verse passage – Genesis 6:5-22 (day four)
Stories like this often make us think of the anger and wrath of God, and understandably so. But when we read the story of Noah in light of New Testament, it’s the compassion of God and the love he has for his people that really shines through. The people on earth were hurtling themselves towards destruction, and God intervened.
John 15 says this, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit…As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me…If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”
God didn’t just trim a branch in this story of Noah, he uprooted the whole tree, so to speak. But we know that God is always dealing compassionately with his people, even when they’re hurting themselves through sin. Noah abided in the Lord, and he withstood the painful, difficult pruning. We, too, can abide in the Lord, knowing he’ll tend to us compassionately.