The rains were torrential. She looked out her window and sighed. What was once dry land, now looked practically like a lake right in front of her. It had been raining like this for days and the skies were showing no signs of letting up. She felt so isolated. Her only companions were her family, who let’s be honest, were starting to drive her a little crazy, and her millions of pets. That’s right, one male and one female of every species of animal living on earth.
Can you imagine for just a minute being Noah or one of his family members? It seems completely unreal. And if you think about the details, like the one where God wipes out all of humanity by drowning them, it seems like you might want to gloss over it. Instead, it is one of the most popular Sunday school stories told to children!
But let’s focus on the other incredible aspect of this story. I think the reason this story gets so much attention is that Noah’s faith is so epic. God instructs Noah to build a gigantic boat and tells him he is going to fill it with two of every animal. The Bible says, “So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him” (Genesis 6:22). The Bible also says, “Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God” (Genesis 6:9).
I see a correlation here. I feel like Noah had more faith than I will ever have. But I also believe that his close relationship with God allowed for him to have so much faith. It is impossible to know what Noah’s relationship with God looked like exactly. But I see no reason why you or I could not walk just as close.
The account says Noah found favor with the Lord. Because of this favor, God spared Noah and his family from death. But hasn’t he also spared you and me from death? We were all destined to die because of our sin. Yet humanity found favor in God’s eyes and he sent Jesus as a sacrifice for us. This makes me think that we have the potential to walk as closely with God as Noah did, and have a proportional amount of faith.
Sometimes I struggle to have faith that God will provide for my most basic needs. I can’t imagine building an enormous boat just because God told me a storm was coming that would cover the whole earth with water. But I pray as I walk closer and closer with God that I would have more faith for what God is doing in my family and what I can do with his help to make an impact in this world. I’m guessing God won’t be needing me to build an ark, but who knows what crazy, miraculous things I could do to spread the Gospel as I have more faith?
by Lauren Bratten
INFORMATION
“Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea, and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”” (Matthew 21:21-22)
Dear Jesus, I pray that I would choose to walk closely with you. And I ask that my faith would increase so that I can do awesome things for your kingdom.
