There are a lot of things in life we do not understand. Has God called you to something that you just don’t get? In college, I was in awe of a painting hanging in one of the campus buildings that illustrated the story of what God asked Noah to do. Many days I would stop, mesmerized by it, and ponder the life of Noah. Lets briefly (I encourage you to read the whole thing if you have time) look at what God asked of Noah. As you read along, try to put yourself in his shoes.
Starting in Genesis Chapter 6,
“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[c] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[d] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[e] high all around.[f] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”
So thinking along the lines of yourself being Noah, can you imagine all the thoughts or questions that immediately would flood your mind? (Yes, I said flood :)) I’d be thinking or maybe even saying out loud, “God, you want me to do what?!? You want me to build an ark that huge, how? You want me to be in it with all of the animals of the earth, and feed them? You want me to convince my family of the mission you’ve given me? What about my friends?” And the list could go on and on. Then think of all of the people around Noah. They were probably taunting and ridiculing him. “Noah, you’ve got to be crazy! You are going to waste your life building a silly boat for what? Like the earth will really flood, yeah, right! Even if a flood did come there is no way a boat you could make could withstand it.” I’m sure the things said to him and what was thought about him were the opposite of anything nice as they were all “wicked”. But as we read in verse 22, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”
In Chapter 7 and 8 of Genesis, Noah listened to all of what God had told him to do. Once he had finished building the ark he got in it with his family along with the animals and birds. “Then the Lord shut him in.” God brought a flood and “every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out.” In Chapter 9 after Noah, his family, and all of the animals had left the ark ,He commanded them to “be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.” He then made a covenant saying, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
Has God asked you to do something in your life that seems in our human mind crazy or impossible? One of my favorite verses found in Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” He goes on to say in verse 11, “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Whatever God is calling you to do, no matter how hard it might be, lets look to Noah’s example. He was a man of great faith. That faith was the driving force that caused him to not only do what God said, but to also trust Him with the outcome.
In closing, I listened to a podcast the other day where a famous pastor had a daughter die of an asthma attack. Leaving the hospital after just saying goodbye to his precious daughter, his wife asked him to go back in and invite the medical staff to his church. In disbelief of the request, his wife explained that that is what their daughter would have wanted, so he did. Not only did they come, but they also accept Christ as their Savior. In this most painful of situations the pastor stated, “trust God with your whys.” Genesis 6:9b, “walk faithfully with God.”
