Walking with the Spirit, Working till the Flood

The Pale Blue Dot; that’s what it is called now.  Before I started building the vessel, I didn’t know how vast a  small “dot” could feel. It was after we entered the ark, survived the flood, and then drifted along a seemingly barren landscape of only sky and sea that I pondered the vastness of the earth on which mankind dwells.  Before that time,  I planted a vineyard and tended to crops as I sought the Creator and praised Him for His creation.  Intently, I listened to and walked with Him as I communed in prayer.  Steadfastly I recited to my sons and then their wives, the accounts handed down of Adam, Eve, Enoch, those who had walked with God.  I stewed over the ease with which those around me were evermore turning from the Truth and pursuing their own ends.

Did they realize that God cannot be mocked, judgment will come, and everyone must answer for their walk on planet earth?  Surely, they heard me preach that this is so.

Then one day, He spoke to me these words:

“I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them.  Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.  Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.  For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven.  Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”

Then, as you know, I was also instructed to bring onto the ark animals of every kind to preserve animal life after the flood.  If you think your home is a jungle at times, mine literally was!  In addition it was a farm, a petting zoo, and a circus.

The sounds, smells, and incidences with the animals were as nothing to the day that God’s hand closed the door of the ark.  The culmination of over 20 odd  years of labor. The patience, endurance, and time that it took to build the ark were equaled only by my passionate insistence for the mocking crowds to repent and turn from their sins. I preached salvation by urging them come aboard the ark and be saved by their faith in God and His promised Messiah to come.  There was room, more than enough room, for all who would have  believed. 

Fossils now the remains of their folly.

It was much like these days that you spend on dirt and sand.  The people were given to one another in marriage and attended parties and events.  Each looking to his own pertinent needs they did not stop to consider their need for a God who would ask an old man to give up his years to serve Him by making a boat in the middle of a plain. Moreover, a vessel the size of which had never been equaled.  “Why serve God?  Eat, drink, and be merry” they said.  “You old fool!”  They would chant, cheer, and shout their mockeries, but I was all the more saddened by the wretchedness of their state and the ignorance of them therein.

Is that how it feels for you brothers and sisters?  Have you become bitter towards the world, or do you seek to pray the more fervently for their condemned plight apart from the Ark of Christ Jesus?  I urge you to take the second view for I remember the cries, the gut wrenching anguished cries of all left behind when the earth burst forth, the torrential rains fell, and the wind was void of mercy.  How we wept and worshipped all at the same time.  That God would pardon me and my family.  Sure, I know He says that I walked with Him, and I tried, oh how I tried, but I still fell so short of His righteousness. Yet He pardoned me and hid me in the ark as He now hides you in Christ Jesus.

Are you walking in His Spirit?  Are you preaching of His coming?  Are you seeking to make Him known and to know Him?  Are you obeying HIs commands? How glorious a thing it is to behold the Son of God and to speak with our Creator face to face.

Do not tarry to do the Lord’s will.  Walking in the Spirit, obey His commands and bend the ear to His calling. Tend the ground and reap the harvest while the time is nigh.

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.  They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  … so it will be on the day when the Son of Man  is revealed.”~Luke 17:26-27, 30

This is a fictional account based on my studies of  Noah conducted a year ago to teach to our high school students. I was blown away as I am now by this righteous man of God.  Characterized by God as one  who walked with Him, his patience, tenacity, and diligence are exemplary.  Yet this man was of dust and earth just as I.  He no doubt sinned as I do (merely read past the flood account in Genesis to find a record of such sin).

This week I have once again accepted a challenge my husband issued to the middle school students and workers he leads.  The challenge: to put on patience as a garment.  I have to confess that my patience garment this week has seemed like some zebra size skinny jeans for this giraffe-like lady to wear.  I just can’t get it to fit!  Nevertheless, by thanksgiving, prayer, and petition I am sure that I will find my patience garment to be of the right size… skinny or boot cut.  Amen!

I am not  convinced that when Noah began to build the ark it “fit” him comfortably.  We are not called to a life of comfort, but rather a life of obedience so that we can walk with God to attain glory for His name and a crown of righteousness to cast at His feet.

Strap up your shoes to walk in the Spirit and work til he comes.  Let’s raise the risk together!

~Brooke

Raise the Risk Challenge:

• Are you a skeptic or a seeker about Noah’s biblical account and the world-wide flood?  Check out Answers in Genesis for answers.
• Prayerfully put on the garment of patience this week.  If you are like me, you will need a large cloak of the Lord’s grace to accompany this! Just imagine the patience it took Noah to be encamped with his immediate family and all those animals!
• Remember that walking in the Spirit is working to obey His commands.  What step of obedience do you need to take today?
• Study Noah’s account in Genesis 6-10.