January 15, 2024 | Be God's Light
On Board the Ark
Scripture: Genesis 7(NIV)
1 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.
17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.
Devotional
I love going to the zoo. For some reason I never get tired of watching monkeys swing from branches, elephants spray themselves with water, penguins waddle across the cold rocks, and tigers pace back and forth. I love going to the zoo. But I wouldn’t want to live at the zoo.
Noah not only lived at the zoo, he and his family lived with the floating zoo… for half a year. At that point I doubt the hippos, pandas, and gazelles had retained their allure. He might have even told the parakeets and cockatoos to shut up a time or two. Building the massive boat had to be physically exhausting. Putting up with laughing hyenas for months on end must have been emotionally draining.
Sometimes the call of God is glamorous. Most times it is a grind. Feed the lions. Clean the rhino stalls. Water the camels. Contain the chaos. That’s the way most of life is. Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” (Luke 16:10). The little things in the daily grind are a necessary part of the great things God calls us to.
At times, I wonder if Noah wanted to abandon ship. But there was no place to go. Once, when a number of disciples stopped following Jesus, He asked his twelve apostles if they wanted to leave Him too. I love Peter’s response. He basically told Jesus, “Where else would we go?” (see John 6:66-68).
Whether times are tough or tedious, this is a good question for us to ask. If we are in the center of God’s will, where else would be go? Sometimes the right answer is to stay on board, stay the course, and stay faithful. Are you facing anything right now where you are tempted to jump ship? What is the Lord saying to you?
Poem
Ark Life
The God ark is made now of the fine gopher wood; The slave pitch is drying; design sound and good.
The rough hands are bruised, blistered from labor sore.
The shoulders are hunched from cross weight burdens borne.
The pantry is bursting; the close galley stocked.
The journey bound vessel from desert block launched.
"It's time; All aboard!" the Divine Captain calls.
"It's time to load up!" the First Herald bawls.
There's no time to dally; the launching won't wait
So climb up the gangplank, each one with your mate.
There'll be no confetti; this isn't a cruise--
March forward, don't look back, no salt-tear adieus.
It's crowded; it's stinky; it's noisy and dank.
The labor is tedious without any thanks.
The manna, so daily; the chaos--the norm.
The days in and days out, without any form
Except for the constants of pitching and rain
For forty and forty--a long time--inane.
Though locked in this fortress, with cramped quarters, true,
The Door shut, your safety, protection for you.
The journey seems endless, at time you doubt, hope;
The sorrows of lost ones, the struggle to cope;
There's death all around you, the water is high.
Your eyes, constant tearing; your speech, only sighs.
You strain for a peace sign, an olive branch dove.
You long for a hope word, a voice from above.
You wonder, if ever, your world will rebuild--
If ever your flood raining crying will still
The waters keep rising, flood deepens on earth
Is this, now, Death's triumph, or Heaven's rebirth?
