阅读经文 

人类把罪带到这个世界之后，（参创 3）情况变得越来越糟，直到神决定使用水的力量，也就是洪水来摧毁世界。（参创 6）许多人因此而灭亡，但神拯救了挪亚一家，设立他们成为受造物的管家。

《创世记》第八章告诉我们，挪亚的方舟停在山上，神“叫风吹地，水势渐落”。我们在哪里见过“风”（或灵？）经过水面的场景？请回顾《创世记》第一章2节。在创世故事开始时，神的灵（风）运行在水面上。在《创世记》第八章中，神给了人类和祂的受造物一个崭新的开始。挪亚放出一只鸽子飞过水面渐退的地表，寻找落脚点。但它起初并没有找到。七天后，鸽子衔着一片橄榄叶子回来了——很明显，植物在神所造的大地上又重新开始发旺起来。

在这里，我们看到神在洪水之后使万物复苏，使人类管理者可以再次照管全地。

作为受造物的管家，我们今天做得如何呢？

After human beings brought sin into the world (Genesis 3), things grew worse and worse until God decided to use the power of water in the form of a flood (Genesis 6). Many people would die, but God saved Noah and his family to become the stewards God had created them to be.

In Genesis 8 we are told that Noah's ark came to rest in some mountains, and that God "sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded." Where have we seen a "wind" (or Spirit?) passing over waters before? Look back to Genesis 1:2. The Spirit (wind) of God hovers over the waters as the story of creation begins. And here, in Genesis 8, God is giving humans and his creation a new start. Noah sends out a dove to fly over the receding waters and look for a place to land. But it finds nothing at first. Seven days later, though, the dove returns with a leaf from an olive tree—a clear sign that plant life was flourishing again on God's earth.

Here, then, we see God resurrecting creation after the flood and making it possible for human stewards to take care of the earth again.

How are we doing as the stewards of God's creation today?