another defining part in noah’s life was when he entered the ark and that shows the motivational power of trust. he took his obedience and applied it by trusting GOD.
and that had to be a scary moment. he’s got all these animals in this ark and he walks in and genesis 7.16 (msg), then GOD shut the door behind him. it wasn’t noah that shut the door, but GOD. that’s trust!
in my life many times i want to keep my options open – “GOD, i’ll do this for YOU but let me keep this over here open in case this doesn’t work out. i can go through that door too.” but if GOD’s saying, “i want you to shut the door,” it’s shut.
trust. genesis 7.6-10 (msg), noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood…just as GOD had commanded noah. in seven days the floodwaters came. the door was shut and it was seven days after that door was shut before the rain started to fall. how do you think noah felt during those seven days? seven long days. “GOD, what am i doing in here? YOU’ve made this promise. the rain’s supposed to come. where’s the rain?”
i don’t know why GOD waited seven days. i don’t know if HE was giving people an opportunity to repent outside the ark. i don’t know if HE was doing something inside noah’s heart within the ark.
and i don’t know why GOD waits in my life sometimes, or in your life. but HE does, doesn’t HE? some of you are in that seven-day waiting period and you’re wondering what in the world is GOD doing? you’ve gone in, the door has been shut. you’ve made the commitment, total commitment to GOD, and you’re asking, “GOD, i'm not sure this is going to work out!” noah had to feel that way but he kept coming back to trust and obedience.
in the span of things what was seven days? the longest seven days of his life, that’s what they were! in the span of days what’s seven days or seven years to us or 11 years? sometimes they can be the longest time in our lives. but trust says “GOD’s working.” the rain hasn’t started yet. what HE said hasn’t happened yet. but HE’s preparing it to happen just in HIS timing. noah’s trust was vital. and so is your’s.
just a thought from the front porch…
2 comments:
You post very informative.
Great walk through of the human experience side of the story. It is so easy to read those classics and forget that the characters were experiencing it in real time.
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