Psalm 124

A song of David for those journeying to worship.

8 But God remembered Noah and all of the wild and domesticated animals with him in the ark. When it was time, God sent the wind to blow over all of the earth, and the waters began to subside. ² The subterranean waters from the depths of the earth and the casements of the heavens were again closed. The drenching rains that once fell from above finally stopped. ³ All of the waters gradually receded from the land. At last, after 150 days, the waters abated; ⁴ and on the 17th day of the 7th month, the ark at last came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters continued to recede until the 10th month. On the 1st day of the 10th month, the tops of the mountains began to appear.

⁶ After 40 more days, Noah opened a window he had built into the ark, ⁷ and he sent one of the ravens out into the sky. The raven flew back and forth until all of the waters had dried up on the land. ⁸ He then sent out a dove to see if the waters had subsided from the surface of the land. ⁹ But the dove found no place to land safely, and it returned to the ark. The waters were still covering the surface of the whole earth. So Noah put out his hand and brought the dove back into the ark. ¹⁰ Noah waited another seven days, and then he sent the dove out again from the ark. ¹¹ This time the dove came back to him in the evening, and there, in its beak, was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew then that the waters had begun to retreat from the land. ¹² For good measure, Noah waited another seven days. Once more, he sent out the dove. This time, it didn’t return.

¹³ On the 1st day of the 1st month in Noah’s 601st year, the waters had dried up from the land. Noah removed the covering of the ark, looked out, and saw that the land was nearly dry. ¹⁴ By the 27th day of the 2nd month, the earth was completely dry. ¹⁵ God came to Noah with a message.

¹⁸ So Noah left the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ And every animal, every small creeping thing, and every bird—everything that moves on the earth—left the ark with him as new families—a new generation.

6 How should we respond to all of this? Is it good to persist in a life of sin so that grace may multiply even more? ² Absolutely not! How can we die to a life where sin ruled over us and then invite sin back into our lives? ³ Did someone forget to tell you that when we were initiated into Jesus the Anointed through baptism’s ceremonial washing,^[a] we entered into His death? ⁴ Therefore, we were buried with Him through this baptism into death so that just as God the Father, in all His glory, resurrected the Anointed One, we, too, might walk confidently out of the grave into a new life. ⁵ To put it another way: if we have been united with Him to share in a death like His, don’t you understand that we will also share in His resurrection? ⁶ We know this: whatever we used to be with our old sinful ways has been nailed to His cross. So our entire record of sin has been canceled, and we no longer have to bow down to sin’s power. ⁷ A dead man, you see, cannot be bound by sin. ⁸ But if we have died with the Anointed One, we believe that we shall also live together with Him. ⁹ So we stand firm in the conviction that death holds no power over God’s Anointed, because He was resurrected from the dead never to face death again. ¹⁰ When He died, He died to whatever power sin had, once and for all, and now He lives completely to God. ¹¹ So here is how to picture yourself now that you have been initiated into Jesus the Anointed: you are dead to sin’s power and influence, but you are alive to God’s rule.