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Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.  Genesis 8:20. ESV

Noah’s reaction to mercy was recorded.  The first moment his feet stepped off the ark, he built an altar and made a sacrifice.  His stock was limited.  He had pairs of each species, that’s all.  Yet, he didn’t think twice about offering half of his food supply to the Lord in response to God’s salvation of him and his family.  Mercy understood ~ equals generosity expressed. 

The offerings I make to God are a barometer of how much I believe God has been merciful to me.  If I really understand that I’ve been snatched from the fire, won’t I give everything?  Expressions like, “I can’t afford to give that much while times are hard!” will be obsolete.  When I give, God promises us an increased blessing!  When Noah offered his sacrifice, God responded with the promise to never again destroy the earth. 

The greatest thing I can lay on the altar is not a sacrifice for sin.  While Noah had to do it, Jesus came and laid on the altar for us.  In response to such love and sacrifice, my offering is not the blood of an unblemished animal but my very life. 

I lay my life on the altar.  Take it all.  Your mercy and your grace came kicking down the door to rescue me.  I’m grateful. Amen

The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.   Genesis 8:4  ESV

As I sit and listen to the morning birds sing outside my office window, I’m aware of all that lives outside in the open air.  Noah and his family witnessed the killing of every living thing outside the ark and were given no instructions from God about what would happen on the other side of the flood.  Their lives were taken up with building the ark and surviving catastrophe.  As the ark came to rest and the floodwaters receded, they had no blueprint.  The rest and the quiet were gracious surprises.

God provides rest and blessing after the storm.  While I am being tossed about, I am so taken with surviving that the thought of rest and reflection on some future day seems out of reach.  I’ve learned that I cannot know what blessing will look like.  God fashions a ‘new thing’ and no amount of curiosity will be able to paint a scenario that resembles what God will create.

For the storm, there was a warning and detailed instructions for survival.  For the new world, there would be daily grace and spiritual intuition.  Once the mountain peaks were visible, Noah would know to send out a raven, one who could gather food from the carnage that rested on exposed land.  On another day, he would decide to send out a dove, one who would search for new foliage.  None of this was spelled out by God but all of this was put into the heart of Noah because he walked with God.

The nature of a storm is such that it takes all mental and emotional faculties to stay afloat.  There are no resting periods to reflect on the past or dream about the future.  It’s inconceivable and doubtful that there will be a future.  But God is not bound by time.  While the winds of heaven howl, future blessing is a sure thing.  During the uncertainty between Egypt and Canaan, God spoke to Moses.  “My presence will go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest.”  Exodus 33:14

Prepare me for ruling and spiritual rest.  Amen

The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated…  Genesis 8:2-3  ESV

Waters didn’t cover the earth in a day nor did God cause them to recede in a day.  God sent a wind, the wind of His Spirit, to blow over the earth.  The same breath that had been active in creation was now active in re-creation. As anxious as Noah and his family were to place their feet on dry ground, the emergence of a new life came gradually and at a pace much slower than they would have chosen.

I once recall meeting the husband of a woman who had been ritually abused throughout her childhood.  Her emotional and psychological damage was profound.  He loved her, ached for her healing, and believed that God would completely rid her of all her painful memories and the scars that accompanied them.  He envisioned it happening while she knelt at a church altar and lived for the day when she would go forward, kneel, and arise strong and free.  I voiced my concern to him over, what I believed, were false hopes.  I urged him to remember that God does indeed heal psychological and emotional wounds but He does so gradually.

Times of captivity never unfold overnight. A series of choices precede the wilderness.   If God just healed the past in one fell swoop, we would not have the opportunity to learn wisdom.  Dismantling the cage, one bar at a time, has great benefits.  In the disassembly, God gives wisdom about each piece.  He delights to see each of us discover the truths He knows will bring freedom.  In the pain, there is one stepping stone after another of hope and faith.

Are you straining under the hand of God’s sovereignty?  Are you longing for a new morning, one where yesterday’s agony just disappears?  He will give you the grace to adjust your expectations and to know that God heals incrementally.  He sends the wind of His Spirit and it blows across the soul to bring divine insight.  Over time, re-creation occurs, and a solid mental, emotional, and spiritual framework is built to stand the test of time.  The new spiritual landscape will appear as Noah’s new earth; a fruitful place to live on the memories of the treasures God gave in the dark. 

Captivity would be worthless if I never learned anything.  Thank you for leading me out of my wilderness one revelation at a time.  Amen

The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. Genesis 7:20  ESV

 If God decides to cover the entire earth with water, thousands and thousands of feet of water, enough to cover the likes of Mt. Everest, what does a few inches matter?  Apparently, a lot.  God knew exactly how much water He would allow and no more.

Once the water reached the mountaintops, twenty-two and a half feet more were allowed, just enough to make sure the ark didn’t collide with something underwater.  It was just enough to keep the boat from grounding.  If Mt. Everest (not yet named) was the tallest peak in the world, the water would have been 29,051.5 feet deep. This is not a meaningless detail.  I serve a God of precision, a God who orders all things well in my life, down to increments of inches.  He controls the floods down to the last water drop.  He controls disease on a cellular level.  He holds the king’s heart in his hands and can bend his will without effort.

 Life is one series of temptations.  I will face periods where it feels like I’m going to drown in the floodwaters.  Temptations to fear, to distrust God, to chuck my faith, to quit waiting on God and embrace some counterfeit comfort instead.  One of these might appeal to me.  But God knows how much pressure to allow in order to grow my faith.  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.  1 Corinthians 10:13

Floodwaters make a man’s heart faint but God created me and knows the exact breaking point of my faith.    The One who covered the mountains with twenty-two feet of water is also micro-managing my life with a power to save, preserve, and cause me to triumph in the love of God.

Don’t let me forget that though I hear the sound of floodwaters, I’m in You, Jesus, my Ark of safety.  Amen

And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him.  And the LORD shut him in.  Genesis 7:16  ESV

Many children today flee their parents’ arguments by running to their room to shut the door.  The door separates turmoil from refuge.

Doors have had similar significance in scripture.  A door has been used by God to separate the righteous from the unrighteous, good from evil, and peril from safety. God shut the door to the ark, separating Noah and his family from the unbelieving world that would face judgment.  Noah didn’t have to sort it out and decide who would be on which side. God could see the hearts of men and made righteous judgments.

A door provided safety for Lot, his family, and the two angels who visited him.  A gang of men pounded on the door to his home, demanding that he release his two visitors for their sexual pleasure.  The righteous took refuge behind the closed door of Lot’s home.

In the days of Moses, the doorpost of Hebrew homes became the dividing point between death and life.  While the angel of the Lord came to slay the first male child of every Egyptian household, the Hebrew children were saved when they applied the blood to the doorposts of their homes.

Jesus said, “I am the door…”  John 10:7 He is the only way a man or woman passes from death to life, from eternal judgment to eternal rest in God’s presence.  Most of mankind rises up to pass judgment on whom Jesus claims to be.  They swear that there are many ways to God but in the end, God is the One who will decide who enters and who is denied access.  Jesus is the door to the ark of safety and all who enter by Him will be saved.

Noah and his family, most likely, heard the heart-wrenching drama outside the ark.  For seven days it began to rain.  Those who had ridiculed the building of a strange wooden structure realized too late the dire consequences of their decision.  The price for rejecting Jesus, the ark of safety, is still as dire.  Those who scoff now experience a false sense of security as nothing happens when they dismiss God’s warning.  But the judgment of God has not yet been released.  But with the world stage on fire, nothing is ‘life as usual.’ The torrential rains are upon us and it will soon be too late.  If only we would learn from history. 

Jesus, You are still saying, ‘Come!’  Let my words to the lost resound with urgency.  Time is short.  Amen

…On that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.  And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.  Genesis 7:11-12  ESV

On whatever day God chooses, He can leave us speechless.  On this day in the Genesis account, God returned the waters of the earth to their original places.  They had been relegated to a subterranean place at creation.  But on this day, they were released from their deep place to cover the face of the earth once again.  Whether a volcano did it or God just ripped the earth to release them, I do not know.  But the point is that all of this was possible because God did it.  God also caused the water canopy above the earth to descend, causing torrential rains.

Isaiah wrote of this as well.  He said that ‘God is the one who can easily open the windows of heaven and make the foundations of the earth tremble.’  (Isaiah 24:18)

During our lifetime, we have enjoyed the stability God grants the earth.  We breathe its oxygen.  We rely on the sun and the rains as if they cycle on their own.  We assume the arrival of spring and the gentle warming of the earth to grow our food supply.  We anticipate the normal length of winter and are confident that snow and ice won’t cover the earth.  Temperatures won’t go much below zero.  But why does our planet sustain life while all others are hostile?  By design.  He created, He sustains.    

The same power it took for God to re-arrange the earth for the flood was on display again when He sent His Son to die for the sins of mankind.  In the process, He defeated the evil one ~ the very one who was at work in the times of Noah.  I am overcome as I think that One so great would choose to stoop low to love sinners so tenderly. 

One day, we will see God destroy the earth again, then rebuild it.  We will see with our own eyes that He is wild and glorious.  Today though, we can experience Him as a gentle Savior.  The most fragile life can exist in the palm of His hand.

How come it took me so long to trust You completely? 

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

For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”  Genesis 7:4  ESV

Why, when death stares mankind in the face, do they still take pride in their freedom to deny the truth?  Wouldn’t a rational person do something different when defenses are down and their lifelong objections to Jesus are on the line?  History says no.

After 120 years of labor, Noah finished the ark.  Final preparations were being carried out.  Everyone except Noah’s family had ridiculed but now they saw pairs of animals entering the ark; coming from every direction, without being herded. Didn’t this unnatural animal behavior make them wonder?  It should have.  Yet, even though destruction stared them in the face, not one more person from that civilization approached Noah to inquire about salvation.

Those who have been reckless with their lives are usually reckless with their deaths.  While the end of life should be sobering, even frightening, it is usually not enough to open blind eyes. A lifetime of sin takes its toll.  Spiritual blindness intensifies slowly as their heart hardens through years of rebellion. Without the Spirit of God’s intervention, it is unlikely that an unregenerate heart will become humble enough to see the glory of Jesus.

What should I do if someone I love is approaching the latter years of their life and there is no sign that they will turn to Christ, their ark of safety?  First, I should give up trying to argue them into the kingdom. A heated debate makes no one embrace Christ.   Apologetic wrangling is futile.  The only tool in my hands to break the heart of stone is the Word of God and the Spirit of God.  The Word and the Spirit.  Like strategically placed dynamite, the crusty exterior of a sin-affected, deceived, hardened heart is imploded by the reckless love of God.

“Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”  Jeremiah 23:29

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.  Genesis 6:18  ESV

Once God initiates a covenant, it is irrevocable. 

“But God, didn’t you know that on the other side of the flood, Noah and his family would sin greatly? Didn’t you know that his descendants would bow down to other gods?  Didn’t you know that they would throw their own children in the fire for sacrifices?  Didn’t you know they would hear You calling and choose to turn their backs on you after all You’d done for them?”

Yes, He knew.  And He chose to save people anyway even though Noah and all his descendants would mess up badly.  Their faults would not be glossed over, and their mistakes would be made public ~ giving all of us hope that if God can restore and redeem their sins, He can do the same with ours.

Do you believe that a promise this glorious could apply to you?  Or do you believe you’ve erred too badly, offending God beyond what your relationship with Him can withstand?  I’ve had my seasons where I feared both were true. 

But I’ve learned that our sin is not the point.  The power of Jesus’ death over sin takes preeminence.  Our faithlessness is not the point.  The power of God’s faithfulness in keeping His covenant is unshakeable.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. 

John Newton said, in a letter to his wife, “Remember two things: I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.”   

People punish by withdrawing their love.  Yours never wavers.  Amen

Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.  Noah walked with God.  Genesis 6:9b  ESV

God’s Spirit is moving as an invisible wind.  He is stirring up things in the people I love, in the church I attend, even in some of the strangers I encounter.  To walk with God is to discern where and how He’s moving and then be willing to add my part should He lead me.  I’m often called to give others words to what might be tenuous inside their spirit and to then encourage them to take a risk in their faith adventure.

My involvement is needed because the work of God can be confusing for someone when it’s in its infant stages.  Like all of us, each person wonders if it is God they heard.  They took that initial baby step and are now timid to take the next one. With gentleness, I can help them pinpoint their fear and applaud how far they’ve come.  I can call out of the deep what is unknown to them, both the strengths and the challenges.  My engagement will give them the courage to step further into the darkness where God’s hand awaits them.   

These interactions can sometimes be messy, but God goes where it’s messy.  He wants me to get involved in issues that will take great wisdom to navigate.  That’s how I grow ~ by sticking my neck out when my only security depends on a word from scripture and a hunch from the Spirit.

I must build where God is building; not tearing down what He wants to construct.  I must demolish what He hates; not continually patching up what He wants to put to death.  I must love what He loves; not ridiculing what is dear to Him.  I must hate what He hates; not secretly embracing what is repelling to Him.  I cannot protect what is good for me at the expense of being out of step with Him. 

You never said it was easy but success on the steep climb upward allows me to walk with You.  I’m in!  Amen