By faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible – Hebrews 11:3
Noah’s Ark and the Flood Summary:
Genesis Chapters 6-9
God saw how great wickedness had become and decided to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. However, one righteous man among all the people of that time, Noah, found favour in God’s eyes. With very specific instructions, God told Noah to build an ark for him and his family in preparation for a catastrophic flood that would destroy every living thing on earth.
God also instructed Noah to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, both male and female, and seven pairs of all the clean animals, along with every kind of food to be stored for the animals and his family while on the ark. Noah obeyed everything God commanded him to do.
After they entered the ark, rain fell on the earth for a period of forty days and nights. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days, and every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out. As the waters receded, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah and his family continued to wait for almost eight more months while the surface of the earth dried out.
Finally, after an entire year, God invited Noah to come out of the ark. Immediately, he built an altar and worshipped the Lord with burnt offerings from some of the clean animals. God was pleased with the offerings and promised never again to destroy all the living creatures as he had just done. Later God established a covenant with Noah: “Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” As a sign of this everlasting covenant, God set a rainbow in the clouds.
When we read the story of Noah naturally logic/pragmatism may challenge the science and the reality behind this story and even make you want to discredit it. However, my question to you is, if science could explain everything…where would faith come in?
God of the Inexplainable
Friend, let me tell you this as someone who has witnessed but also experienced this personally…there will be miracles/stories that cannot be explained with human understanding. As Christians, we are encouraged to not lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6), because that is where we will enter a downwards spiral where we are fuelled by questions behind our faith and lose sight of the reasons for our faith.
In this life, people will challenge the bible and what it says, to be honest, it is not a surprise. If people are not for Christ, they are antichrist (John 15: 18-21), and so there will be opposition to our faith and the contents of the Bible. Yet we are emboldened to still share God’s Word through the power of the Holy Spirit and not our human wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:4-9). We only see in part and depend on the Holy Spirit to unveil the hidden truths within the Bible (1 Corinthians 13:9). Doubt/fear is not an unknown emotion, God still meets us where we’re at in our faith and helps to build it Thomas (John 20:24-31), Elijah (1 Kings 9:1-14), Jonah (Jonah 1 and 2), Father of the child who struggled with unbelief (Mark 9:24)).
What You Do When You Don’t Have An Answer To These Questions
- Go back to the word and pray for deeper revelation.
- Seek wise counsel (Proverbs 15:22).
- Admit when you don’t know – humility.
- Understand that a big part of the Christian walk is faith and logic/reasoning can only take you so far,
God’s Power Starts When Human Ability Ends
It is important to ask questions about your faith, why do you believe what you believe but also to understand the intent behind the documentation of the Old and New Testament as they both feed into our faith. Ensure you are not just believing blindly and that your faith is your own because this will matter when it is tested i.e. questions/ridicule from unbelievers. Finally, God would not be God, if we could explain everything in the Bible. Faith proves that your experience of God in your life is very real and true. It also acts as a reminder to yourself of the relationship with your heavenly Father vs having an explanation for everything your Father does.
More importantly, the story of Noah’s Ark is a pointer to Jesus and His saving Gospel. God’s hatred towards sin and His desire to eradicate it is seen in Noah’s story. God enacts judgement upon the wickedness He sees on earth by destroying everything living thing except those who have found favour in His eyes and trusted in Him. The ark is a representation of Jesus and God’s grace in salvation. The vessel that saved the family from being destroyed, resembles how Jesus is the very means by which we can be saved. This is just one way in which Noah’s story testifies of Jesus. Take comfort in how God gives us a glimpse in His grand plan of salvation, through these stories that may defy logic.
Film recommendation: “God’s not dead”
Book recommendation: “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis
