02 February 2010 Devotion for Today "An Unsettling Faith" Genesis 7:1-10

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

8:17 AM

 1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven [a] of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

 5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. (Genesis 7:1-1-10)

 
 

 
 

I mentioned that yesterday was my birthday and the older that I get I tend to like where I am and don't really want to change my surroundings. Almost seven years ago we unpacked boxes and I said to myself then: "I am tired of moving. We hope that this will be it for a long time!" And since then, it has worked out pretty well. We love our church and love where we live. We have sung roots down and feel the Lord has us where we are to help look after family members. God provided a place where our children can finish out their high school years with the same group of friends they started with. Its been a blessing watching them grow.

 
 

But at the same time, when I read what God said to Noah I thought about how unsettling this must have been for him. God said, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family…" God was not only going to unleash a deluge of water upon the earth, but He was going to uproot this righteous family who set themselves apart from the corruption that was all around them. How heartbreaking it must have been for Noah and his family to see people they knew and loved die in the floodwaters. Even though they were steeped in wickedness, they must have had some friends and family members perish in spite of their pleas. And what of their beloved home where Noah and his wife watched Shem, Ham, and Japeth grow up. Those memories would be washed away forever. Stepping aboard that ark must have been so difficult for them- giving up all that they had ever known to get aboard a boat loaded with animals to float around for who knows how long. It was an unsettling faith.

 
 

It is frightening and unsettling to be yanked up by the roots. But as Noah was to find out, their home was not going to be secure surroundings any more. In the ark lay their only hope. Trusting in God is the only security that we could ever hope to have. We delude ourselves at times into thinking "I've got it pretty good here, I would be crazy to ever want to leave." It is this attitude that prevents people from walking with God by faith. Even though it may be hurtful, faith is the ability to trust God enough to let go of those so-called secure surroundings. Its hard enough to do this for ourselves, but to subject your children to them, who have had no choice in the matter, is almost overwhelming.

 
 

By faith we must get ourselves back to the point of realizing we cannot hold on to this world forever. That was the attitude which caused Noah's friends to perish in the flood. However, Noah also knew that beyond the ark a new world of fresh opportunities lay waiting for him. It was an unsettling faith- a world Noah could not yet see with his eyes, but with his heart.

 
 

As you reflect on this today, try to envision a world that you can see by faith-even an unsettling faith. Trust God and ask Him for the courage to go there as He directs by faith.

 
 

Have a blessed day.