Genesis 9
At the time I’m writing this we are just past the peak of a global pandemic, we have been kept in lockdown now for around six weeks, it’s made some of the experience of Noah and his family very real. Our homes have become little arks of salvation.
The Lord had promised a set amount of time to Noah, he knew and trusted the Lord would always keep his word. So after the foretold 40 days Noah is expectant and ready.
But what is Noah ready and expectant for ? Is it just about getting off the boat? Is it just to get some space from the same faces, same noise, same oppressive wood and pitch walls? I wonder if Noah was thinking beyond that. He was awaiting a world that would be different, a world that needed to be rebuilt. A place that although was familiar in form would have changed dramatically in character and focus.
How much time had Noah and his family spent planning what they would do when this was over? Or was the time spent merely trying to mentally survive the time indoors ? His young sons lives would have been very coloured by the world that had now been washed away. They would have at least had a pang of longing for the revelry and wild ways of their friends.
Although the rain stopped after 40 days, there was at least another 110 days before the world was habitable again, before the dove was sent out and brought back a sign that the time was imminent.
Just as perhaps we are now awaiting a sign from the Holy Spirit, that having as always gone out before us we are looking to the horizon for a sign that the time has come to go out and rebuild.
Noah was a good man, a righteous man but he was still just human. God used this experience I’m sure to further purify Noah’s heart a little and that of his family. It would be very easy for all on board to come out and pick up where they left off, to try and rebuild what had been destroyed rather than seize the opportunity to build something better, something that honoured the God who’d saved them. When we are lost, our inclination is to go back to where we last knew where we were and that’s where we are comfortable to re-orientate. That wasn’t the hope of God, he had just destroyed all that had gone before. As Noah sets foot on the soil he builds an altar, makes a sacrifice and gives thanks to God. The aroma of his offering warms the Fathers heart.
So what of us? As we come out of this pandemic to a world changed in focus and character, do we now start to rebuild what was before? Or do we look to build something better?
Noah gets on with life, it seems he gets drunk a bit, has a few issues with his youngest son, usual family stuff. But the biggest difference is that God makes a promise He would never wipe out humanity again. More than a promise, a covenant.
So no, this virus isn’t Gods work. The rainbows on all the windows and doors are probably an unintentional reminder that no matter how bad we get, no matter how far we have strayed from his hands we will never be totally destroyed by them.
This is a time though, whilst you stare at the four walls of your little ark to think beyond those first moments of “freedom”. What have you been saved for ? What is it God is asking you to build anew ? and what is he asking you to leave behind ?
Please be sure though, that as you step back out into the world the first thing that you do is offer God a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.