After visiting the Ark Encounter in Kentucky last year, I have such an appreciation for Noah. I mean, this dude listened to God and acted upon what God had told him to do without hesitation. Here’s what scripture says in Hebrews 11:7:
“By faith Noah, after he was warned what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built and ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became and heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”
When we read the story of Noah in Genesis, we don’t see the time that it took to build this massive ark. When you read in Genesis 6 and 7, it plays out as if God told Noah to build an ark, he did in a few weeks by himself and then his family hopped on with all those animals and they avoided death and the destruction of the land. But, lets not forget that this man had NEVER seen rain. Didn’t even know what rain was, much less a flood. The world was wicked and Noah had found favor with the Lord…so I can use context clues (my English teacher would be so proud) and see that he was probably mocked and made fun of for building a boat as large as it was when there wasn’t even a body of water to put it on! I am sure people thought this dude was a lunatic. What about the time it took him to build this behemoth structure? I learned at the Ark Encounter that it was built over the course of 100 years…give or take a few. SAY WHAT?!?! I mean, lets be real here for a minute. We get frustrated because we have to wait a few months on a house that we are going to live in to be built…or I will start a diet on January 1st ’cause I am going to build a new body and by January 15th, I have quit and engulfed a whole bag of Doritos while watching a 30-minute television show.
Noah worked for a century on a project based on God’s word. No excuses. God calls us to do something and we make every excuse to even start! Oh the faith! Isn’t that astonishing when you think about it? He worked on something longer than we will probably ever live.
I love how the faith and obedience of Noah results in preservation and a new covenant that was established. His faith preserved him and his family for 40 days and 40 nights, waiting on the Lord to move and stop the rains and for the floods to subside. I am sure that during those 40 days, he was blown away (no pun intended) with the assurance of the things hoped for and now his faith was strengthened at the evidence that WAS seen! God kept His word to Noah. It wasn’t about the ark that he built, but the faithfulness of God to keep him safe and secure because of his faith. If God will keep His word to Noah, he will most definitely keep His Word to you, child. Do not lose faith that this storm you are in will stop. The waters will recede and you will soon see a rainbow that symbolizes that you won’t have to go back there again. It’s His promise to bring you through, friend. I believe in a God of rainbows…don’t you?
The faith of Noah was a persuaded faith. Is that me? If God calls me to do something, do I just proceed because I am already persuaded that God is on the other side? Noah prepared under the persecution. Is that me? Do I keep preparing for heaven, even though others will make fun of my words or actions? His faith is heroic, huh? I guess that why I love a rainbow so much. It’s God’s promise to Noah and his family, but also to me. Whatever I go through, He makes beauty from it. The colors of the rainbow never change. They represent who He is…unchangeable. He is still the same God that spared Noah because of His faithfulness and how many times has He spared me, despite my unfaithfulness!!!
Thank you Lord for your love and being You…for showing us the faith of a man that goes on your word to do what didn’t make sense to the world. Help me to have the same faith to keep going even when it doesn’t make sense to me or everyone around me.
You flood my soul with thanksgiving.
