Build Me an Ark!

Read Genesis 6:9-7:10

An interesting point to note at the outset of the story of Noah is the meaning of his name. Noah means rest. Rest is one of those highly desired yet illusive things for most of us busy people of the world. There’s this perpetual battle against whether you should get more sleep at night or busy yourself doing “more productive” things. I know personally over the years one of the most frustrating and yet fulfilling things about being a narcoleptic is finding rest. You yearn for it, long for it, think about it all the time, and for a few short moments you actually revel in all the glory of it . . . then you wake up.

What does it mean that Noah = rest? Does it mean out of his entire generation he was the only person who experienced the rest of God by being delivered by the flood? Does it mean Noah is the reprieve of God out of all the people of his corrupt chaotic generation? His generation was so depraved and corrupt that it mentions it like six times in the first couple of lines. What must’ve God thought about looking down on creation and the work of his hands and being so grieved by it that he decided to destroy everything that lived? Now that’s some serious corruption! Notice the Bible doesn’t even say this about his kids, or their wives, or his wife, and yet because of his righteousness and integrity God allows them to live. Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that God actually refers to Noah as blameless? There are not very many places in scripture where God refers to someone as being “blameless” and that in contrast to the society of the age around him. Even more so than this though, Noah continually walked with God. The reason behind him finding God’s rest, the reason behind the faithful actions of his life that even gives us the story we know of Noah, the reason only he was blameless in his generation was because he walked with God. Can people we know say the same of us?

Noah was a man of a lot of faith. Sometimes when I think about it I’m reminded of the recent movie starring Steve Carell, Evan Almighty. Seriously though, more than just the Hollywood portrayal of this event, Noah and his family had to be working on this ark for more than fifty years given the technology of the age. He and his family had to have faith to begin a work and a plan this complex that it involved the conservation of all living creatures that walk on earth or fly in the air. How many of us would be willing to face the same kind of public criticism and derision that Noah and his family faced for decades? I know personally whenever my parents or family bring up the fact that I want to live a life for God (which has meant a lot of nebulous time waiting for him to bring situations about) and not an easily upwardly mobile job in a secure field close to home, I cringe because I know the scorn that comes right along with it. However, it’s nothing compared with the scale of scorn that Noah and his family met while patiently working for the future of something they couldn’t even fathom, the destruction of their known world. Are you ready to suffer the scorn of others and look foolish as you patiently wait for God to direct you in school? Future college/career choices? In dating relationships/singleness? Do we understand what it means to live a righteous life? Are you prepared to walk out of a trashy or violent movie when all your friends continue to sit there and watch? How does your life look different because you follow after God with faith and righteousness? Hebrews talks about Noah like this:
“[Prompted] by faith Noah, being forewarned by God concerning events of which as yet there was no visible sign, took heed and diligently and reverently constructed and prepared an ark for the deliverance of his own family. By this [his faith which relied on God] he passed judgment and sentence on the world's unbelief and became an heir and possessor of righteousness (that relation of being right into which God puts the person who has faith).”( Hebrews 11:7, Amplified Bible)

As we continue to seek wholeness together throughout this year let’s take a moment together and reflect on our willingness to follow God in faith when we cannot see the outcomes. Let us pray for the strength and the boldness of faith that God has given so many who have come before us and desired to walk with him!