Lessons from Noah

“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son
of man be.” Matt. 24:37.

Every Bible student understands the plain and simple message of that text. In it the Word of God opens to us insight into the coming condition of the  earth and mankind prior to His return. But I think there’s more that we can  glean from the story of Noah. 

Much like today, the world was facing a climactic culmination of world events. God’s judgment was about to be unleashed. Man was about to pay for his actions, the hammer was poised to fall so to speak. In the midst of all of the rampant evil there remained the righteous, few though they were. What would God do to preserve and protect His people? 

Thankfully, for the sake of the future of mankind, Noah didn’t think as many modern Christian who say; “I will just trust God and He will provide and protect.” Or worse yet; “I don’t have to worry about it because we will all be raptured out of here before any of the real bad stuff happens anyway.” 

Here’s the question: why didn’t God just pluck Noah and his family out of town and plant them into some supernaturally protected oasis until the flood had subsided? Or float them on a cloud and feed them manna from heaven until he could replant them on earth and allow them to resume their lives?

Instead Noah spent 150 years of HARD LABOR and INTENSE PREPARATION for a day he probably couldn’t even picture in his mind. All he had to go on was a warning.

 A flood? Over the whole earth? Right!

 He got up every day and roused his lazy good for nothing sons out of bed (okay, I’m ad-libbing a bit) and went to work. And keep in mind; he didn’t have a Stihl chain saw, a Dewalt cordless drill, or even a Coleman generator. He had very primitive tools and a century and a half of back-breaking labor in order to prepare his family. It almost seems cruel that God would put him through all of that when it would have taken barely a thought to have saved Noah the trouble.

Why did God choose to make it so hard? Why didn’t he just wave a hand and allow ole Noah and family to soak up sunshine on a gorgeous Caribbean beach while He erased evil off of the earth? I don’t know. That will be a great question to ask once we meet our Savior face to face. Of course, when I think of the glory of heaven, I don’t think we’ll care at that time. 

Now, back to us. What can we glean from the story of Noah? A few tidbits.

God came to Noah. He didn’t go to Sister Noah. He didn’t go to the sons, or even the in-laws. He came to the man. The patriarch. In fact, there is no indication from Scripture that Mrs. Noah had anything at all to go on other than her faith in HER HUSBAND. It seems she was not privy to the popular teaching that if God calls the husband he will also call the wife. Such was not the case with: Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, etc…

Here’s the thing guys; God’s not going to give the warning to your wife or kids. It won’t be the woman of the house that lays awake at night and ponders how to build a cabin from scratch, put together an emergency first aid kit, or how to make a diesel replacement fuel out of coal dust. She likely won’t care about how many guns are in the house, how to sharpen a knife to a hairsplitting edge, or how deep to dig a root cellar.

It’s the men who He blessed with the rugged survival instinct and it’s the man who will be the one to “build the ark” and save his family in the coming days of trial. Am I saying that the wife has no place in the whole scheme of things? Of course not. She is as vitally important as the man but designed for a different purpose. It’s quite simple and hasn’t changed since the days of Adam and Eve: the man LEADS the woman HELPS.

Imagine we are sending our US military into a combat situation. Every man is trained to the hilt, equipped with the best that technology has to offer, and in tip top physical shape. He’s ready for battle. Right beside him are all the supply personnel, construction workers, cooks, and communications experts. As battle begins, all of these support personnel take up arms and join in on the skirmish leaving the behind the scenes roles unmanned. How long do you think it would take for all of the training, technology, and physical conditioning to become useless? The answer is: in a real life war scenario it would likely be no more than hours, maybe even minutes.

So, are the front line soldiers more important or vital to the mission than the support personnel? The answer is obvious. They are no more or less important. What is vital though is that they stay on mission. Women support, help, aid. Men lead, protect, guide.

Now, back to Noah. We know that HE was called and instructed. We also know that Mrs. Noah followed and supported. But there is something else we can’t afford to miss. It was Noah’s obedience to God and reaction to the warning that saved, not only he and his wife, but his sons and his daughters-in-law. The weight of facing the coming calamity rested primarily on Noah’s shoulders and it was his effort to guide his family to safety that saved them all.

I am not a shipbuilder but I have read reports from experts that claim that the ark would have never been seaworthy. It was too long for such a wood structure and would have broken in half. They also claim that it would have leaked and sank because the pitch would not have made a sufficient sealant.

Now I have found over the years that the word of “experts” is often the one to be the most leery of but, for the sake of argument, let’s say that these claims are true. If so, I am even more encouraged. It tells me that if I do the best I can with what I have and obey God, He will make up the difference! What a great reality. I may forget something or not have enough time or money to fully prepare for what’s coming but even so, God is able and willing to bridge the gap.

One last point I want to bring out. In Genesis 6:21 the Word of God says: ^“And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.” The point? God told them to store up food, to prepare, to plan for survival in the face of the coming judgment. Just as he’s telling us and so many others.

What happens if you prepare and store up and, in the end, nothing significant happens?

On the other hand, what if you don’t prepare, and calamity falls?