A New Beginning, Noah’s Ark: Genesis 6-9

“But Noah didn’t mind so much what other people thought. So he just did what God told him to do…..” (Jesus Story Book Bible). This is the account of Noah and his family.

Genesis 6:9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.

Starting in Genesis 6 God describes the people of Noah’s time.

⁵The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

It wasn’t that God decided to destroy all these people because they had bad thoughts. God saw that the “inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” How grievous this was to see that His creation didn’t reflect the goodness of their Creator.

Many people find the Old Testament Stories to be harsh and wonder how could a loving God wipe out everyone but Noah and his family. God describes the people as even their thoughts were “only evil all the time.” These people had made a choice to turn from God and follow every evil desire they had. Not even one of their thoughts were good. Sounds like hell on earth to me. Can you imagine what a society would be like if it did not think of others and feed only their evil fleshly desires?

It’s still hard to swallow that this was a real event in history and not just a cautionary tale for children. Let’s see what the New Testament has to say about Noah.

Matthew 24:37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

Here we find Noah mentioned in the New Testament. Noah’s story is being compared to the time when Jesus will return and take us home. If we believe that Noah is just a story then is Jesus’ return also a story? At some point we have to trust God and rest in His love knowing that our finite brains can not comprehend the goodness of God. I certainly don’t want to be in charge of knowing the heart of every man and their thoughts.

Worship

Deuteronomy 32:3

I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

Supplies:

TV or a music account and a speaker
worship scarves
instruments

Everyone needs to be up, standing on their feet, including teachers and helpers. Children naturally look to the adults in the room and mimic their behavior. Place the bucket of instruments and scarves in the middle of the room and have the children and adults pick an instrument. Start the music and encourage the children to worship the Lord with dance, instruments and song.

NOTE: Sometimes the pink scarves can cause trouble with the girls in your class. Lots of tears 😦 trying to keep a worship filled environment is difficult at this point. Either hide the offensive pink scarf or buy enough pick scarfs for each little girl.

Here are songs that your children will enjoy!

Thank You Lord for Making Me!

Creation Song:

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands

The Lord Said to Noah

Time For Crafts

The Promise

Supplies:

Glue
Scissors
Pipe Cleaners, 7 different colors
Cotton Balls
Print Rainbow Worksheets, here

Directions:

Print out on card stock the Rainbow Worksheet for each child, here.
Cut out the Rainbow picture.
Cut each Pipe Cleaner to fit on the rainbow.
Glue Pipe Cleaners on the rainbow and then the cotton balls for the clouds. The cotton balls will cover up the ends of the pipe cleaners.
Place something heavy on the pipe cleaners so they will be stuck to the rainbow when it dries.