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Faith Amid the Flood
From iBIBLE
Submitted by Heather Cogan
Noah did just as God had commanded him. And when Noah was 600 years old, he entered the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. And all the animals that were gathered together entered two by two, male and female alike, and then the LORD God closed the door of the ark.
—iBIBLE Episode 5
The story of Noah’s ark is often one of the first Bible stories that we share with our children and grandchildren. A man is called by God to build a boat big enough to hold every kind of animal, there is a global flood, and a hero trusts God even though he might have looked crazy to everyone around him. Noah serves as a shining example of faith amid an evil generation.
Noah demonstrated his faith by doing all that God commanded him to do. He and his family entered the ark willingly—because of their faith in God—and gathered all the animals and food that God had instructed them to.
Before the rainclouds filled the skies, before the fountains of the earth burst, before any water had appeared, this faithful family stepped foot onto the ark, trusting in the Lord’s deliverance.
Imagine how disciplined and faithful Noah must have been to walk with the Lord for over 600 years! What an incredible picture of trust over decades—centuries, even—in a violent and evil world that stood in opposition to the Lord.
God cared so much for Noah and his family that He did the work of closing them into the ark. He did not make one of them stay behind to do the heavy lifting. He did not force them to gaze upon the disaster that would happen around them. John Chrysostom, a theologian writing in the 4th century AD, explains:
“Notice in this place too the considerateness in the expression ‘God shut the ark from the outside,’ to teach us that he had ensured the good man’s complete safety. The reason for adding ‘from the outside’ to ‘he shut’ was that the good man might not be in the position of seeing the disaster occur and suffering even greater distress.” —John Chrysostom
As the enormous door of the ark was closed by God, you can only imagine how Noah and his family were feeling. The time had finally come; God was about to do something big. While Scripture does not record any reaction of theirs, or anything they said, there is one fact that we often see left out of this account: one full week elapsed before the rain began to fall. For seven long days, Noah, his family, and the animals waited inside the ark as it remained on dry ground.
In our instant-gratification culture today, it is easy to envision ourselves growing angry or doubting if we were in the same situation. Seven days of waiting. Seven days of wondering if God was telling the truth. Seven long days.
But Noah had walked with God. He knew Him. Those in the ark, therefore, waited patiently for God’s Word to be fulfilled
Our Response
The Lord calls us into a relationship with Him today, just as He called Noah and his family into the ark to be saved from certain destruction. Judgment will come upon all people when Jesus returns, but those who are in Christ, much like those who were in the ark, will be saved. When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and put our faith and trust in Him, He promises that we will be saved from condemnation.
“While a wooden ark delivered Noah from physical death, a wooden cross delivers us from spiritual death. Just as Noah obeyed God by climbing onto a boat to save a few, Jesus obeyed his Father by climbing onto a cross to save many.” —Brandon D. Smith
Those who are “in Christ” will not only be saved from judgment, but they will also receive Jesus’ righteousness. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31).
We wait with patience, just as the men and women in Scripture did. With eager anticipation, we await the final day when Jesus will return and usher in His Kingdom which has no end. Noah and his family did not have the benefit of the accounts of faithfulness found throughout the Bible. They simply trusted the Lord at His Word. Let us learn from this bold faith, the kind of faith that is willing to wait on the Lord and trust His promises.
Prayer for This Week
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your grace. Thank You for sending Jesus into our world to save us from our sin and to secure for us our everlasting home with You for eternity. As we strive to walk in Your ways, we will most certainly fail. When we do, forgive us, Lord. Lead us as we walk Your path and do our best to love You and serve Your people. Thank You also for giving us great examples of faithful people in the Bible, that we can see what it looks like to live lives that honor and please You. Help us to find confidence in Jesus when we look foolish to the world. We pray all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.