Sometimes God works secretly and warns against revealing what is to come before its time, other times he commands the person who received to go and tell others what miracle they’ve gained. Still other times things appear as though the person himself or herself is making a spectacle on his own accord and calls it Godly, yet it’s God working! He’s vast like that! Because God uses foolish things to confuse the wise, it’s always best not to think of self too wisely rather to leave room for God to work within. God found room in Noah to save all of the human race during the great flood and through him his family and animals too. Noah who was not a carpenter, a constructor or an architect but a farmer by trade was given the tall order of building from scratch a humongous ark sturdy enough for men and beast.
But ponder this for a moment: did you ever stop to consider just how long and nerve wracking it might’ve been for Noah as he built the ark in public for God. It wasn’t a hidden project and it had to have brought on a lot of curiosity. Surely each person passing questioned him then traveled along spreading the news like today’s wifi to tickle everyone’s fancy. It was long, constant and severe mockery from each one who found out why Noah (2 Pet. 2:5-6) was building the ark. This is before God’s word accomplished what it was set out to do for all to see Noah wasn’t cookoo. After a while the people must have sung about just how mad he was through the years to continue with this foolishness. Kids, youth, young adults, elders, seniors even crazy people must’ve harassed him, his wife, his kids, anyone who was on good terms with them. Even his family at some point must’ve been in his face constantly, showing lack in understanding, doubting, refusing to believe. Yet and still, because Noah knew who He is that spoke to him, his focus remained unshaken. Did it ever occur to you even that though God had already planned to destroy the world with the great flood, what would it have mattered if the most ferocious animals chosen had a feast off of those people that are near death anyway as they paved their way to the ark? Then these same non-believing people would’ve confronted Noah about the animals attacking though they had been mocking him in disbelief for so long! Think about it! Right? Things would have begun to become real in their eyes but it wouldn’t have been a genuine repentance that would bring them to believe in order to be saved; it would’ve been sheer fear without sincerity that could backfire into same error. Because God’s grace, love, justice, compassion and fairness surpasses man’s capacity, He held back His anger. Though He knew man’s outcome wouldn’t be to His liking, yet and still He deliberately gave ample time for freedom of choice.
How many times you and I want what we want when we want it, how we want it and refuse to wait even a second more while demanding our way? (Before the great flood surely there must’ve been newborn mothers and their breastfeeding babies yet none was spared)! Whatever stains the parents shouldn’t rub off on the offsprings, (this is the mentality that we should have while treading the earth). It’s with that lack I think the ancestors past recognized that the fathers ate rotten grapes but it was the children’s teeth who’s been set on edge….Jer.31:29. God spoke on the lack and from then arose a new covenant with God’s written laws within our hearts, hence the importance of His Word.
When God’s word says to pray without ceasing and to do before Him all sorts of prayers, if we’re doing just that we would have covered a multitude of topics, dealt with many issues that might’ve needed attention in the future of our faith walk. So in the ark not only did it not smell good because of the animals’ release but remaining sane in a confined compartment for such a length might’ve proven quite challenging; knowing what was going on outside that ark was not just deadly but death. When you know what to do in any situation and apply such knowledge to your benefit you’re not just escaping some forms of death but also helping all of society to advance, to live, to float above drowning, to tread water until rescued. Reading God’s word, following directions, remaining in His guidelines, applying into one’s life the given instructions is indeed a source to living after this life but first and foremost, to focus on living the promise fully in the present. It took a lot for God to have come to such a stern judgment over all of humanity but it’s important to remember from whence we’ve fallen to not repeat the error.
To sin once is an error, twice is a habit but thrice is pure demonic. To persist in one’s evil ways is to welcome legions of fallen angels into God’s temple to soil it.
Imagine for example If you were given a brand new house fully furnished with antiques and expensive décors, would you force hogs drench in mud to climb, roll over and lay on the expensive furnitures? Would you allow visitors to put their crumbs, dirty feet or soiled hands on spic and clean furnitures? Of course not! Just the same, to preserve the self unto God which is in fact His temple, it is evident a stricter guideline is mandatory.
An advance in any set of culture will not solve all of humanity’s problems but continuous progress evolving will continue to serve society and each need that arises until our journey ends. We must remain prayerful to stay in God’s statutes, will and word as we evolve else these efforts would’ve proven vain. To escape a more fierce death that doesn’t just threaten the physical being but the mental, social, spiritual and emotional aspect of mankind, it’s eminent to delve and dwell in God’s word in retrospect. Life eternal with Almighty God is the reward for all who humbles to His statutes.
Written Jan. 2021
MBM-Tine Brice
