Has
God ever asked you to do something that seemed more than you were capable of
doing? Was it something that seemed
impossible to accomplish and left you feeling anxious and unsure of the
outcome?
I
can’t help but think that Noah must’ve had some of these same feelings. After all, God had asked him to build an ark,
a vessel larger than any boat anyone had ever seen. If that wasn’t challenging enough, he also
commanded Noah to take not only his family into the ark with him when the
waters came, but two of every kind of living thing, male and female. This meant that Noah had to have a male and
female of every kind of bird, animal, and creeping thing on board with him to
ensure their survival. I suppose fish
and other creatures living in the ocean weren’t included because they already
lived in water and the flood wouldn’t change much for them….except maybe their
location. Can you imagine if he had to
house them as well? That would’ve been
interesting!
It’s
mind boggling for me to think about how many animals were actually on board! Not to mention the characteristics of those
animals. Because sin had already entered
the world long before this point, most of these animals would have been wild,
the farthest thing from a pet.
With
all the rain we’ve had this summer, I found myself thinking about the story of
Noah’s Ark a lot lately. I’ve read and
heard this story all of my life, but only recently did I catch one little
phrase in the passage that gave this story new meaning to me. Genesis
6:20 (NKJV)….”two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive”. In my wild imagination, I had always wondered
how Noah rounded up all of those animals…or even knew where to find some of
them. But he didn’t have to! God sent them to Noah to board the ark.
That
means that the lions, tigers, and bears (oh, my!) willingly came to the ark to
board. Noah didn’t have to worry about
catching them or trapping them. God took
care of this for him, and I personally think that would’ve been harder to do
than building the actual ark!
This
new realization has reminded me of a couple of things. First, no matter how big something seems that
God has asked me to do; I need to remember that I serve a much bigger God! The winds and the waves obey His voice. At
his command, tigers and lions and every wild creature become tame and
submissive. When I hear Him asking me to
do something that seems impossible, I must remember that He will not ask me to
do anything that He won’t give me the ability to accomplish through the Holy
Spirit.
I
don’t know about you, but I’m a dreamer.
I dream of doing big things for God.
But I also find myself getting so busy sometimes trying to make things
happen, that I lose focus and come to a stand-still. I can get so busy doing “ministry” that I
forget the most important thing he desires of me is making time for Him.
I’m
thankful that He uses “everyday” things to speak to me. I’m comforted by the fact that all I have to
do sometimes is stand still and watch God move.
All He needs of me is my obedience.
When God is involved, arks are built, mountains are moved, and miracles
happen.
Lynn LangfordLabels: published
