Month: July 2020

    Mrs. Noah

    Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

      On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.  Genesis 7:13

      COVID19, and the slower pace of life it has introduced, has given many opportunities for in-depth conversations with family.  This morning, as Ron and I sat down to watch our church service online, he turned to me and asked this question.  “When you get to heaven, who would you be interested in talking to?  Someone that isn’t a mainstream biblical character?”  I sat for over a minute in silence before answering.  Finally, I knew.  Noah’s wife.

      Isn’t it true that the spouses and children of prominent people are often the most interesting?  They haven’t had a voice as they’ve quietly lived behind the scenes.  They’ve seen so much but said so little.  We may know how their ‘famous loved one’ feels about many things but we cannot assume they are a carbon copy in their beliefs and perspectives.  

      Noah’s wife lived with Noah hundreds of years before God spoke to him with a mandate to build a boat.  What kind of person was he before the call?  How did she experience him?  Did they have a good marriage?  We don’t know but we assume the answer is yes simply because he listened to God and followed the difficult path of obedience.  But not every believer is a Christ-like mate.  Life is messy and man is sinful.  

      What was it like for Mrs. Noah to support him while he built the ark?  How many nights did he want to quit?  Did she ever despair of his health when she saw the toll it was taking on him?  How did she handle the criticism of the world around her?  It’s one thing to be personally criticized but quite another to see someone you love suffer ridicule. What were her thoughts about the ark?  Did she ever doubt that her husband had heard God’s voice?  

      And what did she think and feel on that morning that it was time to board the ark with her family?  When she heard the mighty sound of God’s hand shutting the door, did she fear of what would come next? She had no experience with a boat on open seas.  She’d never seen a mud puddle!  

      So many of our thoughts are of heaven these days.  We long for the stability of the kingdom and the righteous rule of Jesus as King. Like Noah, we see a depraved world that is disintegrating more and more into lawlessness.  We are much like Noah’s wife, mere witnesses on the sidelines.  She holds such intrigue this morning.  

      You have your own answer to Ron’s question.  One day you will pull up a chair.  You’ll make a cup of coffee, or iced tea, and share a 1,000-year conversation with your person of interest.  Relish the anticipating.  Such is the stuff of the kingdom and such are the ruminations of the saints.  Our deferred hope has many shades and pictures.  My fireside chat with Mrs. Noah is my daydream today.

      Don’t let me be afraid to read the scriptures with holy imagination.  Amen

      Ransomed With Another’s Life

      Published on by Christine Wyrtzen3 Comments

      You were ransomed from the futile ways of your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish.  I Peter 1:18-19

      Suppose your child was out playing in the back yard, a place that has always been safe, a neighborhood protected by crime watch.  When your back was turned, your child was snatched.  Hours of anguish passed.  The police and FBI were called and they set up your home with every kind of technology available, assuming that the kidnapper would contact you.  A day passes.  There is a phone call with a demand for ransom.  You expect to see a settlement of a dollar amount but instead there is a message that calls for the life of your other child, if the kidnapped child is to live.  How willing would you be to hand over another life of one you love?  It would be excruciating to weigh the options.

      After Adam and Eve sinned, God’s heart was broken.  He looked upon His precious creation and saw them in the enemy’s clutches.  They were in bondage.  Their cries could be heard across the great span that separated them from His presence.  Cries for love, for justice, for mercy, for a new day.  The ransom required was the ‘giving of God’s only Son.’  No dollar amount would win their freedom.  Only innocent blood.  The miracle is, He gave what was most precious to Him – for us!

      As I enjoy God’s tender mercies this morning, I am closing my eyes for a moment to remember at what great cost we have been bought and redeemed.  When Jesus died, God looked upon Him as He bled and saw our faces.  Through the great pain of watching His Son suffer, He saw us limping home.  He was writing our adoption papers with red ink.  Whatever He gives today, whether health, blessing, grace, companionship or radical forgiveness, each was bought with a price no ONE of us would be willing to pay if the tables were turned.

      Oh, how great a love You show to me.  Wake me up and don’t let me take it for granted.  My salvation trembles in my spirit.  Amen