Hey friends!!!
I though I’d write a blog to let everyone know what’s going on in my journey and in my mind!
Due to some visa issues, we got to take a little weekend trip to Swaziland! A little country in the middle of South Africa – it had beautiful mountains and was veryyyy hot. I got to have some good rest there and adventure an unexpected country for the weekend. I saw God give purpose to this trip in many many ways, but I am very thankful to be back at our house in South Africa to finish our last 3 weeks here! YES I SAID ONLY 3 WEEKS!!! South Africa has gone by crazy fast and before you know it I’ll have 3 weeks left in the Philippines getting ready to come home, crazy stuff!
Anyways, our Swaziland trip made my time here in South Africa feel a little different. It feels like our first 4 weeks here were like “1st Semester” and our last 3 weeks here are like a “2nd Semester”. It felt like a good opportunity to kick off the “new semester” with new goals and a fresh mindset. With that in mind, I got up early today in order to start the final few weeks here well. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I just started reading scripture knowing that God would speak to me through it in the way that he knows I need.
So with that, I went back to Genesis and read the story of Noah’s Ark and the flood. While this story has become a popular Sunday school classic, its really a story for all ages.
I read it through, and one thing stood out to me. Noah had a great deal of obedience – there were 3 things that made this important.
If you know don’t know the story of Noah and the Ark, let me set the scene. (I’m going to tell it right from scripture for the most part so you can see the actual words)
This is one of the first stories ever written after the creation of the world and man. In biblical times, people had been on the earth just long enough to multiply into larger populations.
But since the original sin of Adam and Eve, things weren’t going well. The story goes, “The Lord saw how great mans wickedness on the earth has become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his [humans] heart was only evil all the time.”
This greatly bothered God.
“The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain.”
“So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air – for I am grieved that I have made them.”
Kind of scary, right?
But there’s a catch. The story continues on to say: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
Woah! What?? What makes Noah so special???
Read on: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”
So now that we know that Noah had favor in the eyes of God, why would God want to destroy someone who is “blameless”? But that’s the thing, he didn’t.
This is what God told Noah: “I am surely going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark…”
Why? “[Because] I am going to bring flood waters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens…”
God then gives Noah detailed, very detailed, instructions for the ark he is to build in order to survive.
And what is Noah’s reply? “Noah did everything just as God commanded him”.
Noah didn’t question, he just did.
In the end, Noah builds the ark and survives the massive flood that lasted hundreds of days.
So now with the full story new and refreshed in our minds, let’s dive into my mind. Like I said earlier, Noah’s obedience goes unmatched. There are 3 things that make his obedience relatable.
First, Noah was obedient through persecution. If you could image yourself in Noah shoes, he probably received a lot of flack. The story tells us that he was the only one blameless in the eyes of God in that time. The means that he probably lived a drastically different life compared to his peers. This alone would have brought attention to himself and with that most likely came quite a bit of mocking. But as if that wasn’t enough, Noah begins to build a massive ark in order to survive a flood that God told him was going to kill everyone beside him and his family. Image telling your neighbor that and image what their reaction would be. Before you know it, everyone would be mocking you, calling you crazy and delusional. Some might even accuse you of hallucinating. But never the less, Noah continues to build the ark to completion.
Secondly, Noah is obedient even though the task is hard. When I said earlier that God gave Noah very detailed directions on how to build the arc, this is what I meant. God told Noah: “… Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.” That’s a big task. Making an ark that large without machinery was near impossible. It would have been a really big, time consuming, tiring and tedious task. But still, Noah’s obedience is unwavering.
Third, Noah had to trust in the super natural character of God. If you’re wondering why the ark had to be so large, it was because of the animals God told Noah to take along. “Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and it’s mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, a male and female, both to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.” It would have been impossible for Noah to gather all of those animals on his own. It also would have been pointless to build and ark that big if the animals weren’t going to be on it. But Noah built the ark that large anyways. He believed and trusted that God would do as he said and bring all those animals to him in order to fill the ark. And as always, God came through on his word: “Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.” Remarkable.
As if trusting Gods ability to deliver hundreds of animals right to the door of your massive ark wasn’t enough, Noah had to really trust that the flood was actually going to happen as God said. If he did not, he would not have gone through with the task. But Noah never questioned the ability of Gods super natural abilities and continues on in obedience.
Now it might not seem that we are living in times similar to that of the flood, but we can actually relate quite well.
In the current world, wickedness is rampant and the human condition is falling – similar to Noah’s peers. God has his eye turned toward those who are obedient, and that is what we have to learn from Noah. But the same things that could have stopped Noah from being obedient are the same things that are stopping us today.
Too often we decide not to follow God because of persecution. We don’t want to be vocal about our faith because of what people will say or think about us. This causes us to live to please man I stead of living to please God.
Too often we decide not to follow God because of laziness or fear. When God is asking us to do something, either through the Bible of something else, we are quick to ignore it if it seems too hard. “It’s too hard to forgive this”, “it’s too hard to love my enemy”, “it’s too hard to be different”, “it’s too hard to work this out, id rather give up”, “it’s too awkward to pray for this person in this coffee shop”, “it’s too risky to tell someone I’m a Christain”. Sound farmiliar? These are our modern day arks”.
Too often we don’t trust Gods super natural abilities. We don’t trust that God can answer big prayers and completely transform us. We don’t trust God enough to come though in the end.
But Noah taught us well.
When others persecute you, know that the Lords way is the only truth out there.
When Gods commandments seem to daunting, know that it is worth it.
When Gods spirit seems dead in your life, know that Gods spirit is rich within obedience.
Overall, Noah had massive obedience that was driven by faith. He didn’t let persecution, difficulty or doubts stop him from following the Lord. He fought the good fight of doing the natural work in order for the supernatural to happen.
It sounds cheesy, the lord the put this saying on my heart. “When obeying the Lord in the form of ___________ seems too hard due to what others will think / say, difficulty or it seems too hard to trust in Gods Holy Spirit, I will chose the path of obedience driven by the knowledge that God way is the highest way.”
