Yesterday’s Manna

And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him. Genesis 7:5

This short verse is easily passed over in the entire dramatic account of Noah.  He did every single thing that the Lord had commanded him.  Not once did Noah rationalize or procrastinate.

God didn’t entrust him with an easy task either.  He gave Noah 120 years of detailed instructions to build a gigantic, wooden monstrosity.  When he was finished building it, no one knew what it was.  Through the decades, he never deviated from the blueprint.  He didn’t take shortcuts when something got hard and there was no one to call for advice.  His bystanders were scoffers.  Noah had God and the collective input of his family to figure things out. 

I probably won’t live 120 years.  I’m a little over half as old as Noah was when he built the ark.  In the span of time that I have lived so far, I have failed to do much of what I know God would have wanted.  I am absolutely struck by the stark comparison.

At the end of my life, I pray it will be said that I followed God, though it has taken time for me to get in His groove and to join the rhythm of the dance of the Trinity.  Though Noah did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, He followed God’s call.  I don’t know whether he continued to hear the voice of His Creator throughout the great span of time it took him to build the ark but if God was quiet, no wonder Noah is in the ‘hall of faith’.  I know how hard it is to live on yesterday’s manna, yet for him it was ancient manna.  Still, he stayed on the path and felt the wonder of hearing the voice from heaven address him personally.   

Noah wasn’t perfect.  He sinned greatly on the other side of the flood.  Yet, despite the bad turn of events to come, he is a teacher.  What ‘yesterday’s’ word have I forgotten?  Remind me.  Amen