Noah’s Ark

I was thinking recently about Noah’s Ark. That was quite a ship! It would have been approximately 135 meters long by 22 meters wide by 13 meters high. That seems like quite a bit… until you consider that the thing had to go out to sea…

This inland vessel is already (approximately) 63 meters long, and that is a small one. An inland vessel of 130 meters is no exception, and those things never go to sea.

Noah’s ark did! And it didn’t just sail over any sea, and certainly not calm water:

Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered.

Genesis 7:17-19

Doesn’t really sound like a pleasant trip to me… And there was another problem on that ship:

Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

Genesis 7:8,9

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a farm, but a cow eats grass and what comes out of a cow… is not only milk, but also manure… and the rest. And that stinks! And when I read that description, there must have been a whole gang of animals on that ship, and it must have smelled like crazy. Wow!

Have you ever thought about what it must have been like in that ark? Doesn’t sound like fun to me… on the contrary. Those were rough waters, absolutely no fun, smelly, hard work. I don’t think the atmosphere would always have been pleasant, either. And then they also had to wait to see what happened in the future. Yes, God had said that they (those on the ark) would be saved, but what kind of mess would they find when the waters receded? No idea.

Maybe you too have a tough day that stinks and is hard work. Maybe you sometimes don’t know what to do to properly manage your ship and its future? That future… yes, that remains to be seen… or…. ?

Noah and his family chose to stay on the ship. No matter how hard it was, no matter how bad it sometimes smelled, they knew one thing: this was the only way to survive, and they trusted God. No matter what happens, no matter how hard the work, this is the safe place.

Perhaps that is a lesson for you and me today. Today’s day together with God is sometimes really not that easy either. And yes, you can choose to leave God and jump ship… But we encourage you to stay in the boat with God. It is the only safe place that goes to a future. All other options…there is no future if you jump ship.