Life Upon the Ark
So
God smiled upon Noah in his absolute obedience.
As I left of yesterday, God is a God who fulfills His promises. Notice the length of time that Noah was on
the boat. He had a short time to build
it and collect all the animals, but he got to spend a full year (plus a few
days) on the boat!
I
know it’s not in scripture, but I wonder what had to go through Noah’s mind as
he was on the boat. Did he think he had
gotten himself into more than he could manage?
Did he wonder how long God would make him dwell in the wonderful (but
confining) security of the ark? Sure
there was plenty to do – but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of time to
think about what had happened, too. I
wonder how I would have managed knowing that I was kept in extreme safety while
outside the boat God was about the task of destroying the lives of all
creatures that had the breath of life within them.
However,
with chapter 8 this flood story turns from one of judgment into one of
redemption. Yes, I still stand by all
the stuff I said about Noah in my blog yesterday. But the reality is that God was righteous in
selecting Noah and beginning again with him.
This story is about a new start – although at the same time God had to
know that simply destroying the wicked ones alive does nothing to purify the
evil within the hearts of humanity. Even
if we could get everyone to do good today doesn’t mean that we have cured evil
from this world. It just means that for
this single day evil wasn’t allowed to influence the world. But it’ll come back quickly, let me tell
you. And we don’t have to read very far
in Genesis before we see that this baptism/cleansing of the world doesn’t last
too long.
After
all, look to the end of this chapter.
God promises to never curse the land again. But god also recognizes that mankind’s heart
is evil from its youth. There’s nothing
we can do. You can take even the most
righteous person on the earth and there is still evil within them. You can take the children of the most righteous
people on earth and they will still have evil in their hearts. It is inevitable.
Redemption
But
even still Genesis 8 is still a story of redemption. God knows full well that human hearts will
only be purified through Christ Jesus – and even then only when Christ comes in
the day of the Lord. So this story can
be seen as a precursor to Christ’s work.
Noah was spared out of the waters meant to cleanse the earth. So too are we spared out of our sin through
Christ. God started all over with Noah
knowing full well that even Noah’s heart had the capacity for sin. So too does God start anew with us when we
come to Christ – even though we still have the capacity for sin. This story is a story of redemption – and it
sets the stage to help us understand what God is doing to us through Christ as
well.
Life Off the Ark
Eventually,
Noah does get off that ark. And at least
the first thing Noah does is give praise to God and offer up a sacrifice. After all, all along I have never once
doubted Noah’s loyalty or faithfulness to God.
Noah knows full well to whom the thanks for his salvation should be
given. Let’s face it – God finds Noah’s
sacrifice pleasing. God has acted in his
righteousness and Noah pauses to give Him glory for sparing him and his
family. The truth is that we, too,
should give just as much thanks. Had
Noah not been spared, humanity would have ceased to exist. So Noah’s deliverance here is really just as
much our deliverance as well.
Furthermore, haven’t we been spared from our own sins just as much as
Noah was spared from the judgment of the earth?
So
I wonder, do I give thanks to God enough?
Do I ponder the depth of God’s righteousness as I ought? Do I ponder the depth of God’s judgment and
love as I should? But then I am reminded
of a quote from the movie I watched last night. “There is no path to God.” Nothing I do can be enough to justify
myself. I cannot work myself to
God. Rather, God has justified me. So I should not be asking those questions
above in the sense of “often enough to justify myself.” I should be asking those questions in a sense
of “often enough to display my gratitude for what God has already given me.”
Praising
God isn’t about earning His favor.
Giving glory to God isn’t about causing Him to love me more. Pondering God’s righteousness isn’t about me
closing the gap in my relationship with God.
God does all the work. He already
loves me. He already desires to give His
favor. He already closed the gap in our
relationship. Doing this things is about
responding to what He’s already done.
That’s why Noah made a sacrifice after coming off of the ark.
I
think that’s a good place to stop for the day.
God’s peace.
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