What I think: Genesis 8-11

The underlying theme of these chapters, I believe to be: Keeping our eyes on the Lord and striving to emulate His nature will keep us from choosing to partake in the desires of our human nature. It just baffles me how patient Noah was through the story of the flood. He was willing to wait however long the Lord needed Him to. Why? Because He knew the Lord would keep His promises, so He eagerly awaited that fulfillment. Then, after the Lord's promise was enacted, the very first thing Noah did was offer sacrifices of praise to the Lord. His heart and mind were in the right place. The Lord blessed Him by giving Him the entire earth at His disposal. The Lord promises blessings to each and every one of us that faithfully await them. It may not be the whole earth at the palm of our hands, but the blessings are eternal. How we react to the blessings combined with what we do as a result, I believe, dictates the extent to which we will receive them. If we live the life of a Christ-follower by giving all that God has given us back to Him, the Lord can, will and wants to bless us immensely. In addition to that, we must remember that we are called to turn away from the ungodly nature of this sin-soaked world. Ham chose to look into the face of sin and, by calling his brothers, inevitably became a stumbling block for others. We are called to be the Shem and Japheths of this world. There are plenty of Hams who will give in to earthly desires and effortlessly attempt to bring us down as well. When that arises, we have to turn our backs from the sin and do our part to radiantly shine the nature of Christ. We have to help those who sin, yet not allow them to cause us to stumble. If we live a life completely bathed in the nature of the Lord, our desires and actions will change. For that, the Lord will bless us. We were meant to have a heart similar to Shem and Japheth: pure and focused on mimicking the Lord's character. We are called to be leaders for Christ in the temporary while patiently awaiting the eternal. Will we stumble along the way as Noah did? Yes, for the simple fact that we are human. As the Lord says, "Every inclination of our hearts are evil from childhood." That is why Christ died for us, not to give us an excuse to succumb to our human inclinations, but rather to cover our sins and offer grace to those who stumble. Through doing our best and wrapping ourselves in the Lord's nature, we will be able to turn away and be leaders in the name of Christ in this naturally sinful world.