May the mumbling commence!
Noah is one to marvel at! Now, there’s faith with conviction. Not only did he build an ark in an arid land but he also entered the ark a full week before the rain started to fall. Read from Genesis chapter seven:
Finally, the day came when the Lord said to Noah, "Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous. Take along seven pairs of each animal that I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others. Then select seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that every kind of living creature will survive the flood. One week from today I will begin forty days and forty nights of rain. And I will wipe from the earth all the living things I have created." (Verses 1-4)
I can imagine the cajoling that happened to Noah and his family. They must have been the laughingstocks of the entire community. Imagine… building a boat in the middle of a desert! Water was miles and miles away… let alone enough water to float that gigantic ark.
And Noah was predicting rain. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. There was a week of misery as the animals loaded the ark and as the people heckled them. I wonder which was harder to hear the heckling or the screams of despair that came when the deluge began.
That is faith with conviction! And it lasted much more than forty days. Noah, his family, and the animals were on the ark for a little more than a year. Read from Genesis chapter eight:
Finally, when Noah was 601 years old, ten and a half months after the flood began, Noah lifted back the cover to look. The water was drying up. Two more months went by, and at last the earth was dry! Then God said to Noah, "Leave the boat, all of you. Release all the animals and birds so they can breed and reproduce in great numbers." So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. And all the various kinds of animals and birds came out, pair by pair. (Verses 13-19)
We’re looking at about thirteen months cooped up in a boat with a vast menagerie of animals with only your family to care for them. I bet Noah and his family kissed the dry ground when they exited the ark. Thank God that they were remembered!
A similar salvation with more far reaching implications dawned on humanity when Jesus walked the earth. Read from Matthew chapter four:
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. But instead of going to Nazareth, he went to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy:
"In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea,
beyond the Jordan River – in Galilee where so many Gentiles live—
the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.
And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow,
a light has shined."
From then on, Jesus began to preach, "Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near." (Verses 12-17)
The light of God penetrates all darkness. Darkness has no chance to win. Even darkness is as light to the Lord. Let’s turn from the darkness of our sins into the warm light of Christ.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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