Let’s face it…next to the Titanic and Disney cruise ships, the ship we hear about most is Noah’s Ark. It’s a great story and kids love it. So what does the story of Noah teach us?
First and foremost, it teaches us that God is involved with us always, whatever our circumstances. Rather than think of God as angry enough to want to destroy the earth, it’s more correct to think of God as ‘grieved’ because of so much wickedness going on. God wanted to save creation and humankind through Noah. In this story, we hear about:
- a God who expresses sorrow and regret,
- a God who goes beyond justice and determines to save some creatures, including every animal and bird,
- a God open to change and doing things in new ways,
- and a God who promises never to do this again.
God cares, and God gets concerned about us. God even regrets what’s going with our sinfulness and deceitful ways. But God will never give up on us. Sin will never win out, and a new day will always dawn. The story of the Flood speaks in the end, not of divine punishment, but of God’s faithfulness to the works of His hands.
Then there was Noah, who scripture tells us, walked with God… a lovely image. We are told he was a righteous man, blameless among the people. He wasn’t perfect, but he loved God wholeheartedly and always showed trust and obedience to God.
He must have been a patient man. Imagine explaining over and over again, especially to his wife and 3 sons, why he was building such a monstrous boat that he was going to fill with people and animals, in preparation for a flood when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! But he was persistent and faithful and found favor in God’s eyes.
God blessed and saved Noah, just as God will faithfully bless and protect those of us who also walk with God and obey God’s ways. Our call to obedience is not a short-term, one-time call. Like Noah, our obedience is to be lived out over a lifetime of faithful commitment, every day. And we are promised, like Noah, that those who persevere will be saved.
Soon we will embark as a community on a 40 day journey ourselves; it’s called “Lent”, a journey of faith, of renewal, of transformation. Our destination will be the renewal of our baptismal promises with newly blessed life-giving water. May we, like Noah, trust in God as we travel light and travel together….praying, fasting and almsgiving.
