13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.
17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. [b] , [c] 21 Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. (Genesis 7:13-24)
Have you ever been shut out of something or by someone? Being shut out is the feeling and/or experience of rejection brought on by people who have purposefully, or unintentionally, excluded others from their circle of friends or from their fellowship. Sometimes there is also a perception of cliquishness or awkwardness in developing relationships with people. Signs of being shut out include people who walk into a room without acknowledging the other person in the room- even when that person is known to them-by greeting, a nod, making eye contact, or generally treating that person as if they were not even there. It is humiliating and disappointing, and an affront to one's pride to be treated so dismissively as to be rejected by ones peers. Being shut out or closed out is perhaps the ultimate, consummate fear of teenagers; however, adults experience this phenomenon as well.
When one reads this passage of Scripture in Genesis 7, it is clear from the context that Noah and his family are not shutting out the people who are not aboard the ark. Anyone who wished could have come aboard. But when the rains came and the floodwaters rose, the giant door ascended after all the animals came on board. God did not shut out the ones who did not come aboard, but he closed Noah, his family, and all of the animals safely inside. It was not a matter of not being good enough to get aboard the ark. Those that perished were the ones who rejected Noah and ultimately God.
Those who adhere to extreme views on the doctrine of predestination hold to the idea that God chooses a few people for salvation to the exclusion- or elimination- of others. They often betray their attitude of wanting to be distinctive or shown to be better than their peers. God does choose for salvation, but He leaves the door open and will not reject anyone who willfully comes to Him. As in the case of Noah's Ark, the door was open for anyone who wished to enter. They would have gladly been given refuge by Noah's family had anyone applied. Sadly, no one else did. This was not a shut out, but a shut in, as Noah and his passengers prepared to set sail for a one hundred day journey.
Do you feel shut out today? Understand that God is not willing that any one should perish, but that all should come to repentance. If we feel shut out, it is our sense of wanting to shut God out of our lives and not the other way around. God desires to shut you in to His salvation to secure you for the experience of the next life that will know nothing of the rejection we feel from our peers here on earth.
Have a blessed day!
No comments:
Post a Comment