I'm amazed sometimes at how impatient our world can be. They make coffee machines now, one of which I have, that take these pre-packaged pods and make a cup in under a minute! Is it really to much to way the 10 min or so that it takes to make a whole pot which, in its entirety, costs a fraction of what one of those pods costs? Anyways, our earth is so impatient, and our reflection today is how patience and obedience go hand in hand. And both of those together go hand in hand with our faith.
There are many different passages that we could go here on this subject, including Galatians 5 and the fruits of the Spirit, James 2 and the working out of faith, or even the whole book of Romans centered around the idea of "obedience of faith" (Roman 1:5, 16:26). But the passage I want to focus on today is the story of Noah and the flood. Carrying right along with our journey through Genesis, as it seems, we backtrack from my prior post on Babel and return to the story of Noah's amazing faith evident in his patience and obedience.
In Genesis 6:13-21 God approaches Noah with His plan of destroying mankind on the earth because of Evil and for Noah, the one person who found favor in God's eyes, to build this massive structure we call and ark. The key verse in this passage is in verse 22, "Noah did this; he did all that God had commanded him..."
I feel like I would be a little more hesitant, like, "Now God, can't we talk about this? You want to destroy the whole earth? Really? Can't we work something out?" Or perhaps... "That's a little big God, that's going to take me a long time to build, what about something maybe a little more family friendly, and perhaps, less zoo?" I'd like to say I'd do what Noah did, but I live in a culture that is so impatient and in a mindset of "if it's an inconvenience to me, I don't want to do it..." However, I believe, even in my fallen nature and humbled state while reading this passage, I can say I'm glad God picked Noah and not me for that task.
We need to learn from Noah in this simple thing of his agreeing to do this. The fact that he didn't respond like the above points out two things: 1.) he agrees with the Lord on the state of the world and is completely on board with the plan. Noah did not question the Lord. That's something we should really take to heart in this passage. 2.) he did exactly what the Lord said, the first time. His obedience here show's his fear of the Lord which surpassed the fear of what the world thought of him building this structure, as well as the fear of what was to come. Obedience comes from a fear of God, something we all need more of.
Where does patience come in? And how does patience and obedience go hand in hand? Turn ahead to 8: 13-18. Noah sent out the dove and it did not return back. So what did he do? He opened up the covering of the ark and checked for himself, sure enough, the waters subsided and the earth was dry! Perfect!! Let's get off this naturally assumed to be extremely potent smelling ark! Nope, he stayed on for another month and a half! Why? The earth was dry? Why stay on the ark? Because the Lord didn't tell him to get off yet! Talk about patience AND obedience. Noah knew that God knew what he was doing, so he didn't want to do anything to hinder God's timing. He waited for another month and half while knowing the ground was dry, so that he would be obedient to the Lord. And that's what happened. The Lord in the 2nd month told him that he was now allowed to get off the ark with all the animals and thus the story continues from there.
Patience, Obedience and Faith. Noah's faith was so evident in this story. Why? Because he was patient: 100 years building an ark with no rain, much less flood waters, as well as the torment those around him were probably giving him about building it. Obedience in the fact that he did it. They all point to the fact that he Feared the Lord and did exactly what God said! Why? FAITH.
Let us go about our day today making our faith evident using Noah as our example. Let us be patient with others. Let us be obedient to authority and to the Word of God. Let us be known by the same phrase that Noah was known by: "and he did just as the Lord had commanded."
~Moellerd
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