(Please read Genesis Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9. These chapters are the story of God, Noah and their relationship, the ark, the world at that time and the consequences of man's good choices and bad choices. It is far more than a story meant to entertain children in Sunday school. Take some time to read about Noah again. Here are some of my thoughts about Noah, the ark, the flood and about obedience and faith.)
The story of Noah and the ark is probably one of the very first stories from the Bible that children are taught. I've read and shared this story many, many times. It is one of my favorite Bible stories and it goes far beyond being just a children's story.
There is a whole lot more to this favorite children's Bible story than immediately becomes apparent until you sit down and really read it thoughtfully, consider what it is really saying. It is a story we all, adults and children, need to look at much more closely.
The story of Noah and the ark, the great flood, is a story about our God and me relationship. It is a story about faith, trust and obedience. It is a story about following instructions and paying attention to warnings.
Whether you choose to believe it or not, God is, God was and God always will be. We the people of the Earth and everything else on Earth were created by God. God is our father. God is the ultimately perfect parent. God owns the Earth, the universe. It is His and God can and will do whatever God wants with His stuff just like you and I do but on a much greater scale. The only difference is you and I are inclined to make some really lousy choices from time to time.
I just said that God is the ultimate parent and He is. God tries very hard to guide us, teach us and lead us in the right direction, to offer us what is ultimately best for us but even God can't lead if we won't follow. God can't give us things if we won't accept them. God can't teach us and guide us if we won't listen and obey.
Let me ask you a question. Have you ever disappointed your parents? Have your children ever disappointed you? Have you ever just totally lost it because your kids simply will not listen and obey? What happened? God is our parent.
As parents we establish certain rules and stipulations for our children to protect them, guide them, nurture them and help them to grow up into responsible and respectable adults. Sometimes our kids listen and sometimes they don't. There are consequences either way, good and bad. When our children misbehave we, as a good parent, explain their misbehavior to them and the child faces the consequences of misbehaving and we sometimes have to explain it over and over and over until they finally get the picture or the consequence becomes severe. Doesn't it break your heart to see your child hurt or ill or maybe in prison or dead because they just wouldn't listen? Of course it does if you are any sort of a loving parent at all. Children who are obedient and do as they are asked to do, follow their parent's instructions reap the benefits and rewards from obeying and learning.
When we love our children and teach and guide them into ways that are safe and right, do the very best we know how with what we have to do with for our children, that is good parenting and parents should keep their word.
God keeps His word. God warned and warned and warned the people of the Earth to listen to His teachings, to follow Him, do what He asked for their own sake, to live by His instructions. He promised that if they would that all would be well with them and they would have life and life more abundantly. The people didn't believe it. They thought they knew better than God. They had their rights and could do what they wanted. Did they not have free choice? So with this in mind man chose to ignore and defy God. God explained the consequences of disobedience. God promised that if they did not and continued in the way they were going that the whole world would be destroyed. Man refused to listen. Man wanted it his way or no way. And God warned them again and again. The rains came down and the floods came up and the people suffered the consequences of their own actions, the choices they made, even unto death.
As it was in the days of Noah is pretty much the same as it is in our world today. People were selfish and greedy. They were committing all manner of sin, murder, rape, stealing, cheating, illicit sex, obscene behavior, pedophilia, wars, prejudice, hate, jealousy, envy, and they didn't believe in God, they had turned their backs on God. They worshipped other gods, gods they had created to satisfy their own wants and bad choices. They ignored and refused to obey God's law, God's instructions for living a good life, safe and filled with bounty. They were misusing the Earth and destroying the earth and all the benefits the earth brings forth. They were denying and defying God. The people living on the Earth at that time were being disobedient to the extreme and God said enough and allowed them to suffer the consequences of their own bad choices. Listen to today's news. Look around you. Look at your community. Look at yourself. Is there any resemblance to as it was in the days of Noah? It sure looks that way to me and it is scary. God warned them and warned them and warned them and in the end they had to face the consequences for disobedience.
