Has anyone else been looking for rainbows lately? I have. I know this weather is nothing like the great flood of Noah's day, but it does make me think a lot about that as we have day after day of rain.Imagine what it must have been like to be Noah. Genesis tells us that Noah walked with God. In a time when the entire world was corrupt and evil, Noah walked with God. He heard Him when He spoke to him because he had a close relationship with God.
And, even better, he acted on what God told him to do. I don't know how many of you have ever heard Bill Cosby's take on the story of Noah, but I think it is rather enlightening. He humorously envisions Noah building this huge boat in the middle of a desert while his neighbors all think he has totally cracked up. But, Noah continued to do as he was told by God.
Then the waters came. The same floodwaters that swept away all those doubting neighbors, and everything else in creation, served to float the ark higher. The torrential downpours which destroyed others lifted Noah closer to God.
Somedays you look at the news and you have to think, surely God is going to rain down his fury on this world soon. It seems almost too much somedays. But, God isn't focused now, nor was he in Noah's time, on what was being destroyed by the evil of mankind's ways, but on what is being built. For Noah, what was being built was very obvious…a large boat. For us today, what is being built is a body of Christians who can go around the world and bring news of God's grace to all who will hear it. Yes, some of those who hear us may think we are just as delusional as Noah's neighbors must have though he was. But, if even one will hear us and believe, think how that will please God.
Heavenly Father, help us take after Noah, who walked with you, step-by-step, day-by-day. Help us find grace in your eyes by our faith. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
