Genesis 7:15 Daily Devotional & Meaning – The Breath of Life Preserved in the Ark
- Benjamin Michael Mcgreevy
- Mar 10
- 3 min read
Daily Verses Everyday! Day 35
“And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein [is] the breath of life.”
The wording here is interesting because it claims that inside the ark “is the breath of life.” And to fully understand this, we must look back through Scripture to see what the “breath of life” really means. This phrase is not simply a poetic way of saying something is alive; it is a reminder that all life originates in and is sustained by the Spirit of God.
The foundation for this concept appears in Genesis 2:7: “And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This verse tells us two things: first, humanity is made from dust, which on its own is lifeless; second, life is only possible because God Himself breathes into man. That divine breath transforms clay into a living soul. In other words, we are entirely dependent upon God for existence. Job echoes this same truth in 33:4, where he confesses, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” Later, in Job 34:14–15, Elihu warns that if God were to gather His Spirit and His breath back to Himself, “All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.”
Here, we see that life is not just granted once and left to run on its own. It is sustained moment by moment by the perpetual presence of God’s Spirit. The animals and people entering the ark carried within themselves this gift, which is God’s breath, and their preservation through the Flood was ultimately the preservation of that breath.
The psalmist reflects on this cycle in Psalm 104:29–30: “Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.” God alone gives and takes away life. The Flood, in its terrible destruction, was the removal of breath from the Earth. Yet, through Noah and the animals, God ensured that His Spirit-given life would continue and eventually renew creation after the waters receded.
This same theme is vividly pictured in Ezekiel 37:5–6, where God tells the prophet over the valley of dry bones: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live… and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.” Even in the midst of death, God has the power to breathe life again. The Flood may have seemed like an end, but within the ark was God’s promise of new beginnings, with the breath of life safeguarded for the world to come.
So when Genesis 7:15 highlights that inside the ark was “the breath of life,” it is emphasizing that God didn’t just paint His painting in Genesis 1 and then walk away; instead, He continues to sustain, preserve, and hold everything together. As Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:17: “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” The same divine breath that filled Adam, that sustained Noah and the creatures, and that restored dry bones in Ezekiel is the very breath that sustains us even now. Every breath we take is evidence that Christ holds us in His hands, preserving creation until the day He makes all things new.
If you would like to explore Genesis in a sustained, verse-by-verse way with space to reflect, journal, and trace how these foundational truths unfold through Scripture the Verse by Verse book expands these reflections into a unified reading experience. The book gathers these meditations into a structured journey through Genesis, designed to help readers linger in the text and engage God’s Word more deeply over time.
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