Sitting around the dinner table last night with friends, someone said his parents gave murmurings of a potential move to their son a few weeks before the request was needed. An idea was quickly presented and they left the room. Then, the night before they needed him to move (on good terms due to the house being renovated), they said he needed to be out the next day. Had he listened to the “murmurings” weeks before, he would have been better prepared.
While reading Genesis 7 again today, last night’s story came fresh to mind. Sometime between Noah’s 500th and 600th birthday, God gave him instructions to build an ark because He was sending a flood to destroy the wickedness and corruption of creation. The Lord had given him a covenantal promise that He would preserve Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives, along with two of every kind of animal, bird, and creepy thing. He also advised Noah to collect every kind of food to feed everyone. Can you imagine having to estimate how much all the people and animals would eat for an undetermined amount of time? I believe God gave him the inkling to do just enough to cover everyone until the exact moment that the last morsels on the ark were running out and they were able to leave their wooden home to scavenge for fresh produce. Isn’t that so often how He works? Giving the perfect amount for the perfect timing; no more, no less.
After anywhere from 50-100 years later, God spoke with Noah again reiterating the instructions to enter the ark with his household. Unlike my friend, Noah was prepared. This time, God gave a bit more details about the animals. Genesis 7:2-3 says, “You are to take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, of all the clean animals, and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and its female, and seven pairs, male and female, of the birds of the sky—in order to keep offspring alive throughout the earth.” The Law had not been given. Moses wouldn’t be alive for hundreds of years yet. How did Noah know which were clean animals and which were considered unclean? How did Adam’s son Abel know to sacrifice a lamb and the fat portions of it? I believe the Lord instructed man since the curse of sin came upon us about the need of a substitutionary sacrifice and the things that were important to Him. Just like people knew the Law before it was officially instituted, I believe man also knew the fore coming Good News of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Gospel message is written all over the pages of the Old Testament. Should you take each story and each law, and lay it over the New Testament, you would find the pieces all match up. So it was with Noah welcoming seven pairs of every clean animals and birds into the ark.
Okay, so far God initially spoke to Noah and he built the ark. Then God returned to Noah anywhere from 50-100 years later and told him to enter the ark with his family and the animals. But, like the story I shared about my friend at the beginning, the second announcement of a move came with great haste!
“‘Seven days from now I will make it rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing I have made I will wipe off the face of the earth…” So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark because of the floodwaters. From the animals that are clean, and from the animals that are not clean, and from the birds and every creature that crawls on the ground, two of each, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, just as God had commanded him. Seven days later the floodwaters came on the earth.” Genesis 7:5,7-10 (Emphasis mine)
From what I can tell from the text, when God approached Noah to say it was “Go Time,” He meant it immediately. Noah and all who were instructed to enter the ark had one day to all load in. I picture the animals from across the world slowly migrating over time to Noah’s area. Then when the day came, they all came rushing into the ark. There was no room or time for anything or anyone else to enter, even out of curiosity.
“On that same day Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, entered the ark, along with Noah’s wife and his three sons’ wives. They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, all the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, every flying creature—all the birds and every winged creature—according to their kinds. Two of every creature that has the breath of life in it came to Noah and entered the ark. Those that entered, male and female of every creature, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.” Genesis 7:13-16
Decades of planning, building, and waiting suddenly came to fruition, then the Lord shut the massive door. I’d imagine once everyone was inside, it took a while to get all the animals to their respective enclosures, figure out feeding schedules, etc. But for the most part, there were seven days of waiting for the unimaginable to happen. Did Noah and his family sleep each night with God’s peace in their minds and hearts? Were some of them writhing in grief and fear of the unknowns? Did doubts fill their mind or did they give it all to the Lord in faith seeing all that He had already done and provided for them?
How do you react when God makes a change in your life? Moving away to school is adventurous. Getting married is beautiful. The birth of a child is rewarding. But after all of these exciting moments comes a time of adjustment to your new normal. An awkward, nervous time processing the unknowns before you. What’s your reaction when plans quickly change, even if you knew it was coming?
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the vast watery depths burst open, the floodgates of the sky were opened… The flood continued for forty days on the earth; the water increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. The water surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. Then the water surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. The mountains were covered as the water surged above them more than twenty feet. Every creature perished—those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind. Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils—everything on dry land died. He wiped out every living thing that was on the face of the earth, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. And the water surged on the earth 150 days.” Genesis 7:11, 17-24
Just like that, everything familiar about life on earth was gone. Any evidence of human efforts, achievements, and power were destroyed. All they could do was turn to the Lord and wait on Him to continue to provide and eventually deliver them from this nightmare. As days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, I picture Noah gathering his family around the table each night when their duties were done for the day and sharing stories all the way from Adam’s day until their own. Stories of the rise of man and their downfall. Evidences of God’s love and grace. Records of His faithfulness from generation to generation. It kept them sane. It helped them to not lose sight of where they had been and where they were headed. The Promise of God to crush the head of the Ancient Serpent had not yet come. There was still hope. There’s always hope!
Sometimes, God gives us a “murmuring” of what He has planned for us. One assignment. One character quality. One relationship. He did it with Noah, with Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, etc. An idea was spoken years before the application came to exist. Then, when the time came to enact it, it happened quickly.
Most often by the time the plan does come to reality, there’s two streams of response: one, like Moses, is to feel completely ill-equipped for the task; the other, like Noah, is to step into it obediently by just doing “the next thing,” not getting stuck frozen by fear of the grandeur of the situation because you’ve walked so closely with the Lord that it’s hard to understand the significance of it in light of eternity. How is that possible? Because you aren’t focused on the event as much as you are the relationship you have with the Author of it.
Most times, the things God calls us to do are difficult. They’re beyond our human ability; we have to rely on God to get through it. I’m so grateful none of us have to experience what Noah did. There’s no way he or his family would have endured that entire year without God’s strength and help. It was God’s grace that He gave them the purpose of caring for the animals that year. Can you imagine being on the ark with nothing to do for a whole year? Man would not survive. God created us to work; it’s a good thing to do, and it provided a distraction of noise and service when the torrents of water crashed against all sides of the ark.
When God tells us to “Go,” regardless of what the situation looks like, we need to remember His faithfulness to protect and provide for us along the way. Let’s keep our focus on Him and the eternal, assuring hope we have in Him. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (ESV) Though it may be a mystery to us at the time, we can trust that whatever God is moving us to will be made beautiful. What an eternity it will be for all of God’s people to spend learning even a glimpse of what the Lord has done from the beginning of time until the end. I am SO looking forward to story times in heaven! How about you?
But for today, let me ask you this: Has God planted a seed in your heart about an assignment, ministry, job, relationship, adventure, _____? If He brought it to fruition for you today, would you be ready? Are you, like my friend, unprepared for God to bring that thing to reality? Are you denying what He has shared with you and continue to put it off? Or, like Noah, are you using this time to prepare in any way you can for the moment God calls you to that service?
