S21P2- Portraits of faith: Noah
Gen 6:22
Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Has God ever called you to do the impossible or the seemingly illogical? In Noah’s time, the world was full of wickedness, and God desired to start anew not only with mankind but also with the creatures of the ground and the birds of the air. However, God had found faith in Noah. This faith gave him favor in the eyes of God. And because of that favor, God called Noah to the impossible and the illogical when He asked him to build the Ark in anticipation of rain that had never fallen before then.
God’s command to build the Ark in anticipation of torrential rain and an ensuing flood was both illogical and impossible. It was illogical because it had never rained in history. Imagine God asking you to prepare for something that has never happened before. Imagine the response you might receive from people when you tell them what you are doing. Noah lived through this in a time when no one desired to worship God. God’s command also seemed impossible when you consider the size of the vessel one would need to house not only Noah’s family but all of the creatures God required to fill the earth again after the flood. All of which was to be done by hand with no modern tools or equipment. This must have seemed quite the insurmountable task, but Noah still fulfilled God’s command to him. He did everything just as God commanded.
Because of Noah’s faith in obeying God when obedience was ridiculed and seemed senseless, we are here today. Not only mankind, but also the beasts and the birds roam to and fro because of Noah’s faith. This is obedience in faith that has affected the world for millennia. When God calls us to the impossible or the illogical, or even when He calls us to something very ordinary, we do not know how far reaching the repercussions will be. Obedience in faith regardless of man’s opinions and our apprehensions can accomplish amazing things. Father, teach us to hear and recognize your commands, and give us the faith to say “yes” even in the face of that which seems impossible and illogical.