The Well Known Story of Noah's Ark

 

We all know the story of Noah's Ark. If you've grown up in a Sunday School, you'll hear it repeatedly year, after year. At least for me, the story has lost its sense of amazement and awe. But when I
take a step back and study this story in more detail, it is truly amazing.

7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹ male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Taken from http://biblegateway.com/  in NIV translation.


I'm studying Genesis for history right now which led me to write up this blog post. I really took my time going through the lessons, and it amazes me how differently I saw the story when going through it with a new pair of eyes.

I highly respect Noah for building an ark when God asked him to. People were ridiculing him constantly. Something else I never realized? It took Noah 100-120 years to build the ark. Think about how much trust you have to have in God to take on a big project like that. You have a lot of time to think when doing a 100 year project. I would start doubting myself; I would start doubting God. But Noah stayed strong and was committed.

And did you read the scripture where it said that Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came? Wow. Just... Wow.

I always like picturing in my mind how the animals got onto the ark, and how I would feel when watching that. How amazing would that sight be? I would feel so small compared to this large ark, and the even bigger God who is leading the animals in.

And then... the door shuts. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but I can imagine it would be very poorly lit inside that giant ark. We know that there is a window, probably more than a couple of them, but how would they be able to fully light an ark that big? Imagine living on a boat full of animals. It's dark, it's smelly, noisy, and cramped. And after the door shuts...

...It's starts to rain pour. Water comes down from the sky, and from underneath the earth. Water quickly starts to surround the ark. After more than a hundred years of waiting, working, and trusting God that you're doing the right thing-- It very quickly becomes evident that this is what God destined to happen.

-----

I want to try to take stories like this into a more serious light, really putting myself in the Bible character's situation, seeing what I'd feel like and putting their lessons into my life.

What do you take away from the story of Noah?

Byeeee!
- Katie

(Side note: So far I'm track for the 100 for 100 challenge! For those of you who are participating, how are you doing?)