Noah and the Flood

Last friday I shared about Noah and the flood. It is not something new to me but just remembered about this story again when i read the bible which then i was encouraged to prepare a sharing.
Actually the funny thing is it was not my turn to share but someone else. For some reasons i was compelled to just write up what i learn about Noah and the Flood while deep down in my heart i can sense that im going to share it in oikos. Again i believe this is a reminder from the Holy Spirit becosssss the person whos supposed to share totally forgot about it , plus not feeling too well too.  So there you go, i end up sharing the materials that i prepare.

Okay without extending the introduction any further, lets dive down in the Word.
The focus is from Genesis 6 to 9.
I encourage you to revisit these chapters before reading the remaining sharing cos that way you will understand it better.

It starts with a question: how does all this starts? The focus has been shifted in our current society somehow. People are more interested in Noah, the ark and  the flood while forgetting about why that has to happen. The fact is that all this did not have to happen if only humans are not wicked. It was mentioned in the bible that because humans were so wicked that it grieved. So what was the sin? Was it that the sons of God married the daughters of men? Or was it that they bore childrens called Nephilim? In my opinion, it is their very evil heart that grieved God.

Genesis 6:5 NIV

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

It is their evil heart that caused them to sin, to marry sons of God or vice versa. Why? Because if it is because of the forbidden marriage, God could have just banned the sons of God to be on earth then all these wont happen. Btw there are a few interpretation as to who exactly the sons of God are. Some said they are the descendants of Cain who are living outside God's care. But then this argument is weak because Nephilim is more than normal human.Some said they are the fallen angels. If you read Jude, you may find stuff about the fallen angels which i kinda agree in this view. So they came on earth, saw daughters of men were beautiful and married with them.

The interesting part is that as soon as God said He will wipe out all men on earth on previous verse, the next thing is that God said He was going to save Noah. Questions :
1. Why would God save Noah while we know in the following chapters his family will sin again?
2. Why would God bothers to save one family on this big earth?
3. Out of all, why Noah? What's so good about him?
The only explanation i could give is that it is all God's grace and His plan. No one can fully fathom. No matter how much i try to explain, it will still fall short. I can only see that God is constantly looking for righteous people. He is a just God, even if theres only one righteous person, He will spare that person. If you read further in Genesis, theres another story whereby God wanted to destroy all the people in Sodom and Gomorrah. Abram pleaded with God and asked him what if He can find a few righteous people and God did answer that for the sake of those 30 people, i will save them. God answer the similar questions for 3 x.

Noah is saved by grace alone, not because of the ark that he built or because of his good deeds. How can we prove then that he has the faith?
Noah didnt complain or ask any questions when God instructed him to build the ark with specific instructions and requirements. Infact, you could see his full submission and trust in God. A lot of other leaders in the bible when asked to lead they often gave excuse that they were not able. For eg. Read jeremiah 1. It is amazing that he didnt ask a single question like how hes able to do all that, will God provides him the resources, such and such. Noah seems to fully comprehend that the tasks that God asked him to perform may look hard but it is the best solution for him. When i reflect on this, i feel so stupid..how many times God ask me to do sth yet i refuse or give excuses and not willing to ponder  that it is actually for my good. This is sth that i really need to learn.
Do you know that Noah has great perseverance too?
Noah spent more than 100 years to build the ark. Imagine how hard to start sth and yet this is sth big and totally new to him.
1. He was not a ship builder..he is a farmer. He owns winery.
2. He doesnt have the technology to perform the tasks. Rmmbr he was building a 3 storey ark.
3. He has never seen rain. So he wont be able to imagine what flood is like. It needs real faith to believe that it is going to happen
4. Probably mocking and discouragement from other people. Think about the one time u did sth unusual and people around u started to give negative comments to u. And compare it with what Noah might have faced. Probably every single person who knew what hes doing was saying that hes crazy. Or maybe his own family member would say the same thing. He has to endure that for 100 years. For me, that would seems like 1000 years. Haha.

The sad fact about it is that in that 100 years, no one other than Noah actually follow God. I can imagine in that 100 years Noah tried to convince people that the flood will come and that they may repent but sadly no one put their faith in God. God is gracious enough to extend that 100 years that people may put their faith in Him.

So then God told Noah to gather the animals accordingly as the flood will be coming soon. Notice that God made the animals themselves move into the ark. It would be so hard or even impossible for Noah to bring every single species into the ark.this proves that God does what is impossible and we do what is possible. God will never give us sth that is too hard for us to do. Yes mayb building the ark may sound stupid and look impossible but God knows that Noah is able to do it thats why He gave him the task. So be encouraged, whatever task you are facing now, God can already foresee that you are able to overcome it.

Do you know how long Noah stayed in the ark? It's 1 year 10 days. How could i know? Bcos he entered the ark on 2nd month day 7 and came out the following year 2nd month day 17. Not sure whether their calendar and our calendar are the same (365days) but the fact that it was 1 year and 10 days means that it was not a short period.
Maybe you might think that oh well.. he has waited 100 years to build the ark, waiting another 1 year wont be that bad. Now.. you have to realise that in that 100 years he could go around freely plus he must have lots of friends too. But in that one year, he only has his family as his friends as well as taking care the animals. One year may seem so wrong. Let alone thinking about all his relatives that died because of the flood. I would have been very miserable if i were him. But there was never a time in the bible that recorded Noah's complaint or him questioning God how long he has to wait. My point here is sometimes prolonged suffering is necessary. In this case, imagine the whole world was flooded and it will take a long time to dry the land. Even a 3 days non stop rain in my country took more than 2 weeks to totally drain the water. Undoubtly Noah will be more than happy to be able to come our right after flood. After all, nothing is impossible for God. But God is more interested in enlarging Noah's faith and the way to that is thru perseverance. Lets have a look at

James 1:2-4 NIV

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

The world's standard is not God's standard. The world offers problems free life and constantly luriny people to seek ways to make their life easier which hardly achieved anyway. But if you use God's perspective, you may find that our maturity is determined from how many obstacles we have overcome in this life.

Life is hard but God is our comforter.
After the flood, i am sure Noah must have been terrified when theres rain the next time.. God knows this and He cares for Noah. The evidence is that God made rainbow and promised Noah that He will no longer wipe the earth with water because of Noah's faithfulness to Him. How is Noah faithful? Notice the first thing after he came out from the ark, he didnt look for the best place to build his house, nor look for food to eat or to relax, but he straight away build an altar for God and worshipped Him..that shows how much Noah loves God and that God is His first priority. God was moved by his action and gave him that promise. God destroyed the earth because of human wickedness but only because of one's man faithfulness God decided to not destroy the earth anymore. I swear if anyone says God is not fair, i would tell the person this fact. Haha.
Back to the rainbow...because of the rainbow, Noah can have the assurance of his life and his family. What is your rainbow? We have God's words that is so easily accessed. Noah only has that rainbow but we have so many promises that God has given to us from the bible. Will you start to look for your rainbow as your anchor when life gets hard ?

All glory to God and only Him

Orange girl ;)