Happy Saturday Friends! 🌞
Ok, so earlier this morning I was in a bible study with two good friends Mel and Kuda. Kuda is taking us through Part 2 of a study of Covenants. The Noahic Covenant out of Genesis 6-9 was the focus of today’s study. It takes us through God’s decision to destroy humanity by means of a global flood and He instructs Noah – a righteous man – to build an ark.
Kuda posed an interesting question. ‘Why did God tell Noah to build the Ark?’ Why indeed? I had all but a few seconds to compose my thoughts which were basically that Noah didn’t actually need to be the one who builds the ark. God could have built it Himself or spoken it into existence, right?
I’ve paraphrased some thoughts below;
Teaching
When God gives us an instruction, He seeks to teach us something. He teaches us about ourselves, other people and of course Him. Our insecurities are brought to the fore. Our prejudices. Our misbeliefs about God, ourselves and other people. God gave Noah specific instructions on how to build the ark. The size (dimensions and proportions), the specifications of what it would look like internally and the material it would be made of – gopherwood (which is unknown to us).
I’m sure as Noah built the ark, he encountered challenges which he tried to figure out and which God helped him resolve when he asked for help. I’m sure he was also subjected to verbal and perhaps even physical abuse from the people around him as he stepped out in faith to do God’s will. These people likely came in the form of family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and even strangers who felt their opinion had to be heard on the matter. In the face of various forms of resistance, Noah persevered until the completion of God’s assignment. Applying this to our own lives, we see that the resistance can come in the form of negative words spoken over us in the area of our calling, lack of resources to fulfill the calling which can be in the form of the skills, tools, people, finances and platforms we need. Yet even as Noah persevered, we too must push through to fulfill God’s assignment for us.
Growing Submission
In Genesis 6 verses 14-16, God specifically told Noah how He wanted His instruction carried out. So there was no room for Noah to decide whether using pitch on the ark was a good idea or not. God’s purpose. God’s methodology. Noah submitted himself to God’s instruction. If Noah is anything like me though, he probably wanted to bring his understanding of how the ark should be built into the equation. We aren’t told if Noah had any experience in seafaring or building boats/ships. I choose to assume he was not an expert and had to rely entirely on God’s instructions. Yet, in a similar situation I have listened to the advice of ‘experts‘ and thought it best to incorporate their skills and their expertise into God’s instructions. God had to reign me in and remind me of His instruction. Get me back on track. I wonder if Noah had to be reigned in and reminded of God’s instruction to him. Noah and we too, on our walk, need to grow in submission to God as we do His will in every aspect of our lives.
Point to God
The ark was a huge building project and obviously took a great length of time to complete. Gen 6:3 says ‘3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive[a] with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”’ The 120 years God gave between the instruction to build the ark and the flood, was to give time for the people to see Noah obeying God’s instruction even when it didn’t make sense and thereby piquing their curiosity. They would ask why he was building the ark and be told that destruction is coming so turn back to God. None of them did but I believe its the same in our day. God wants to shine His light on what He’s asked us to do so when unbelievers see what He is doing in and through us we can confidently point to Him. In pointing to Him, more people can come to the brightness of our shining and turn to Him that they too might be saved from eternal damnation.
So let’s be the salt and the light so that many can be saved when they experience the love of God through us.
Blessings!