The Tower of Babel (Gn11)

This is a story about putting ourselves before God. When we do that, we are prideful. Pride is the root of a lot of bad things. We will se a couple of them in this story.

After Noah and his family finally came out of the ark. (Remember the flood?) Noah built an alter to God. Noah thanked God and worshipped Him. Then God told Noah to "be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth." So what does that mean? God wanted Noah to have a great big family, so that his children would have great big families. Then God wanted them to move into all different parts of the world. The world is a big place and God wanted everyone to spread out and not stay in one place. We have to remember what God told Noah, because it is important in the tower of Babel story.

A few hundred years after the flood, there were a lot of people on the earth again. Noah had obeyed God and had a lot of children and they had a lot too. Many moved east to the other side of the river (not too far away) and found some nice flat land. Flat land was great for building. The people said "Come let us build a city with a giant tower that reaches all the way up to heaven. We will make a name for ourselves here and we won't end up being scattered around the world." (Gn11:4) God was looking down and knew what the people were planning. He knew that they were not building a tower for Him, but for themselves. God also knew that if they built the tower, the people would not fill the earth (spread out through the whole earth) like he told Noah, because they would stay near the tower.

God had a plan. His plan is funny if you think about it. God confused their language so that they couldn't understand each other!(vs.7) Imagine trying to build something and you can't understand your boss or the other workers. If one of the other workers asks you to pass a medium sized brick, but to you it sounds like blah blah blah blah blah, you wouldn't know what to do. Construction on the Tower of Babel had to stop because no one could understand each other. Babel means confused. They were confused all right! Did you ever hear anyone babbling about something. Not making any sense. I have.

So God scattered the people throughout the earth.(vs8) They didn't obey God, so He had to do something to make His plan work. I think God was pretty easy on these guys. He didn't hurt them. They deserved a lot worse. When God doesn't give us what we deserve, it's called mercy. God had mercy on the people building the tower. Has God ever had mercy on you?

Sometimes we put things before God. Things like our toys or games, our friends, or our allowance. Imagine if all of a sudden you spoke a different language than everyone else. You could't play games with your friends, or you could't understand your teachers or your parents. God may not confuse us like he did to the people in this story, but He does try to get our attention in different ways if we are too prideful or disobedient. Have you ever lost a favorite toy. Maybe it was more important than God. God says that if we put him first, He'll make sure about everything else that we need. (Mt6:31)

God gave us talents, when we draw a beautiful picture, write a wonderful story of play terrific music, we have to be careful not to be prideful about what we have done, but instead about what God has done through us. That is called glorifying God. He likes that. (Ps86:12)

Noah is saved.... and God's promise Gn 8&9

In the last few weeks, we got to know a little about Noah. Noah and his family were the only people on earth that knew God and loved God. When God told Noah to build a huge boat and gather all the animals inside, he obeyed. When the flood lasted a long time and then Noah and his family had to wait for God to let them out of the boat, we saw that Noah was patient.Here is a coloring page for you. Thanks to RaisingOurKids.com

We can be like Noah if we love God, obey God and wait for God. There is one more important thing that we can learn from Noah.... and that is to believe God. The Bible says that Noah was

righteous because he believed God. What does that mean? It means that Noah was going to heaven when he died. We will see Noah in heaven some day. Won't that be so cool! We could ask him about the flood and all the animals. What would you ask Noah? God didn't say that Noah was going to heaven because he built the ark. God didn't say that Noah was going to heaven because he was patient. God said that Noah was going to heaven because he believed Him.

A few weeks ago, we talked about believing God. We believe that Jesus is His son. That He died for our sins and that we would follow Him. We believed God and that's why we are going to heaven some day. If God said all we have to do is run around the block to get to heaven... some people can't walk. If God said it would only cost a penny to get to heaven... some people don't even have a penny. God wants everyone to know him and be in heaven with Him. Believing is something that everyone can do and Jesus made it possible.

After Noah and his family finally got off the ark, Noah wanted to thank God for saving him and his family, so Noah built an alter to God and prayed to Him. We should thank God for sending Jesus to save us. God was pleased with Noah. He blessed Noah and his family and He promised Noah that he would never again flood the earth. Do you remember what God put in the sky as a sign to Noah about this promise? Right.... a rainbow! Have you ever seen a rainbow. Aren't they wonderful?!

The Flood

Last time we saw how Noah obeyed God by building an Ark. (a really big boat) Did you know that God gave Noah exact instructions about building the ark? He told him what kind of wood to use, how big to make it, where to put the windows and how to make it waterproof. Did your dad ever have to follow the instructions to put something together? Like a bicycle or a swing set? If he followed the instructions, it made putting it together a lot easier. God gives us instructions for our life. It's called the BIBLE! Because He wants our lives to be blessed.

This week we find that Noah has finished building the ark. (It only took him 100 years!) Do you think Noah ever thought it would never be finished? The Bible says that after he finished building the ark, Noah took his whole family into the ark and then God sent the animals in two by two. (Gn 7:6-9)

God shut Noah and his family in the boat with the animals. They were waiting for the rain to start. First day, no rain. Second day, no rain. Third day no rain! Do you think Noah was wondering if he heard God right? Finally on the seventh day it began to rain. (Gn 7:10)

It rained for forty days! When the rain finally stopped, the water was 20 feet above the highest mountain! Have you ever seen a mountain? Imagine a flood higher than that! The water didn't go down right away either. It took 5 months for the water to go down enough to see the tops of the mountains. Do you think that God could have flooded the earth in one day and dried it up the next? He sure could have. Remember we learned that God created the water in one day, then the land the next. Nothing is impossible with God.. (Lk 1:37)

Finally the ark came to rest at the top of a mountain called Mount Arafat. Noah, his family and all the animals stayed in the boat for three more months as the water kept going down. (so far they have been in the boat for over nine months, thats more than one full school year.)

After another forty days, Noah let a dove go. The dove flew away and then came back. Noah was hoping it would bring some kind of proof that the land was drying up, but the dove had nothing in its beak. The next week Noah sent it out again. This time the dove brought back an olive branch. I bet Noah and his family were celebrating! They knew that they would soon be stepping on solid ground. Noah knew that he had to wait for God to say that it was OK. So they waited and waited and waited. Finally 2 months later, God said it was OK for them to come out. God opened the hatch and Noah and his family and all the animals came out. I bet they were so happy to see the ground!

Noah and His family were in that boat for more than a year. They showed patience over and over again. They waited seven days for the rain to begin. They waited for the rain to stop. They waited for the ground to dry and then they waited for God's OK to come out.

The Bible tells us that we should wait for God. (Is 30:18) Why? Because God sees all things. He knows what will happen in the future. So by waiting for Him, we are showing that we trust Him. Being patient is not easy. We always want everything right away.

I remember one time, my mom had baked a cake. She took it out of the oven and put it on top of the stove to cool. I started to take a piece and my mom said to wait. When she left the room, I hurried up and took a piece and shoved it quickly into my mouth before she came back. It was so hot! I burned my mouth. I was screaming and crying. My mom came in. " Couldn't you even wait for it to cool down?" She was just trying to protect me. She knows what is best for me. I couldn't eat anything for two days, my mouth was so sore. By that time, the cake was all gone.

God tells us in the Bible to be patient. (Jas 5:7) He knows what is best for us.

2 turtles for the ark

you can feed these turtles and lead them into the ark

Click your mouse to feed them or drag it to lead them.

Noah Builds an Ark Genesis 6

Have you ever seen a rainbow? I love rainbows. Noah and his family were the first people to ever see a rainbow. God made a promise to Noah and to us and he put the rainbow in the sky as His signature. For the next couple weeks we are going to join Noah and his family on an amazing adventure and find out about the promise of God.

God was very upset because all men on the earth had turned away from Him. All except one man named Noah and his family. Noah loved God and he showed God how much he loved Him by obeying Him. It's hard to obey God when everyone around you is not. Have you ever done the right thing when all your friends were doing the wrong thing? Good for you. God sees what we do and he is pleased when we choose to do the right thing. I like to make God smile.

God wanted to clean up the world by removing all the bad people, but He wanted to reward Noah and his family for their obedience and love. God had a plan, but it required a lot of hard work by Noah and his family.

One day God said to Noah, "I am going to wipe the earth clean of all the evil men, so make an ark for yourself and your family because I am going to flood the earth." God gave Noah instructions for building the boat and Noah followed them exactly. If Noah was lazy and didn't make the ark exactly as God had said, it would have sunk or flipped over. If we only obey God sometimes or in some things, we are really not obeying Him. What if Noah said that he'll do it later?

God told Noah to make the ark so big, because Noah was going to keep 2 of every kind of animal in the boat during the flood. Imagine being on a boat with elephants and zebras and snakes and raccoons and monkeys! Noah had a wife and three sons. His son's were married.

So there was a total of 8 people to take care of all those animals. That must have been a lot of work!

Noah believed God and began building the ark right away. Noah didn't live anywhere near water, so all his neighbors would tease him. They thought he was crazy. Sometimes when we do the right thing when no one else is, people tease us and call us names, but God calls us His children. Remember how we talked about how God gave us the ability to make choices? Noah chose God's way and so should we. Noah believed God and so should we.

Here are a few interesting facts.

1. The ark was as long as 1 1/2 football fields and a tall as a 4 story building!

2. It took Noah 100 years to build the ark!

3. It rained for 40 days but Noah had to wait for the ground to dry, so he was in the ark for one year and 10 days!

4. Noah was 600 years old when it started to rain.

5. It had never rained before the flood.

6. The ark was big enough to hold 45,000 animals!

Here is a modern ship the same size as Noah's Ark!

Next week Noah fills up the ark with animals and God fills the earth with water.

Congrats to our 3 winners!

In the past 3 weeks , I selected 3 random comment makers on this blog to receive Mr. BibleHead t-shirts. Let me introduce them : Kelly has 3 boys. She has a blog about her three sons. It is called God Bless My Boys. Give her a visit here. Brian is has 2 sons. You can check out his inspiring blog here. Krista is a mom to 2 boys also. Her blog is called Krista Hamrick Illustration. She has a lot of wonderful and inspiring artwork. Check it out here. Thanks to everyone who commented the last few weeks. Don't worry there will be more give-aways. This past give-away of 3 t-shirts was in celebration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. I picked 3, because Jesus rose on the 3rd day! This week we will be on board with Noah, his family and thousands of animals. So stop on by for an amazing adventure! (in Genesis chapter 6&7)

Happy Easter!

Sunday is Easter, so I thought we'd take a break from the book of Genesis and talk about Easter. It's fun to think about bunnies and to get an Easter basket full of goodies on Easter, but let me tell you the real meaning of Easter.

The story of Easter can be found in the book of Matthew 26:20through Matthew 28:20. Remember we talked about how Adam and Eve had to leave the wonderful Garden of Eden because they sinned. Then the last two weeks, we talked about God's wonderful plan and how Jesus took our punishment so that we could live forever with Him. Well Easter is the finishing touch of God's great plan. Jesus died on Good Friday, then on Easter Sunday, He rose from the dead!

You may be wondering "what does that have to do with me?" The answer is everything! Easter is a time for more celebration than Christmas! When Jesus was born on Christmas, it was just the beginning of God's plan. When Jesus rose from the grave on Easter, God's plan to allow us into heaven was complete.

Jesus was the first to rise from the dead and lead the way to heaven so that we could too. Jesus died for our sins so that we could be forgiven, But if He didn't rise we would stay dead forever. We would have no way of getting into heaven.

Let's say that you went to the animal shelter and picked out a dog. Your dad paid for the shots and license. Now the dog was yours. You brought the dog home and while you were still in the driveway, the dog jumped out of the car and ran up to the front door of the house. He couldn't open the door by himself and get into his new home. You had to open the door first and let him in.

Just like the dog, Jesus paid a price for us. We are His. He saved us. But it wasn't until He rose from the dead that we were able to go through the gates of heaven. Heaven will be our home forever. Do you see that the whole Bible is about Jesus and His love for us. All the way back to Adam and Eve..... God had a plan.

Next week we are going to climb aboard Noah's ark! Genesis chapter 6 Happy Easter!