June 15, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“ The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.” (Genesis 9.18-19)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

The scene is set for the conquest of Canaan. Does this mean that God had this in mind all the while and manipulated the situation with Noah, the Flood, the birth of his sons and their naming, surviving the flood and getting drunk on his own wine to be caught sleeping/passed out naked for all the world to see? No, it does not. It would be interesting to see where Israel would be today had it been Shem (the oldest) or Japtheth (the youngest) who had walked into their father’s tent and found him naked and passed out drunk. To read into the story anything about “second” sons, such as Cain or later Jacob, would be too cruel a reality even for God to place such a burden on them. However, the truth of the matter is that from the three sons comes the world population following the flood. It is their purpose to scatter over the whole earth (by whatever definition) and proclaim the truth of human existence from before the Flood. In essence, we could tie this effort to that of the Great Commission which the Resurrected Jesus gave to the disciples as the template of their future life in ministry. Noah’s sons were to go into all the world and make followers of the One True God according to the tradition and religion of their ancestors before the great corruption.

However, a curse came upon Ham for the unfortunate indiscretion of viewing his father’s naked. He brought shame upon himself. The details of the story are not available in scripture. We do not know the circumstance under which Ham came into his father’s tent. Nor are we privy to the full conversation Ham had with his brothers. We do know that Ham’s brothers acted with expressed caution to preserve the dignity of their father in his nakedness. Did they receive an extra blessing for doing so? That is not clear either. What we do know is that the descendants of Ham were cursed with great trouble and tribulation. It would be a struggle for them. The greatest curse would be that his descendants would become servants of the other brothers and their families. It would be a contest of wills to do what God would ask of them and choosing for themselves what they would otherwise do. If they were obedient to the will of God, then the curse would seem to be null and void. However, if they were not, then judgment would fall upon them just as it did those who lived in the world in the ages before the Flood as the offspring of the Nephilim. That word, too, which should have vanished except as a warning, spread across the face of the earth and became a part of everyone’s legacy. What is it that we will tell the nations? Triumph or tragedy. It is the same for all of us today!

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.