So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the Earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the Earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. Noah did everything just as God commanded him. 
Genesis 6:13-14,22 

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A few nights ago, there was a display of lightning as my friend and I drove to our Bible study together. After the group filled up with God’s word, we left the house. I took a deep breath of the sweet after the storm—it smelled of rain and spring. I lifted my head to the heavens and said, “Spring’s coming; I can feel it.”

I wonder if this is what Noah and his family smelled as they exited the ark. I loved this story as a child and admired crazy Noah, who listened and obeyed God as the people in his neighborhood jeered. Incidentally, those people who made fun of Noah got pretty wet. 

But as a child hearing this story, as usual, I missed something horrible. You see, the people on Earth had black hearts—they were so bad to the bone that God decided the only cure was to destroy the world with water. Humankind so grieved God’s heart that he couldn’t stand the treachery any longer. He asked a faithful man, Noah, to build an ark that protected him and his family from the waves. Oh, our poor, sick world and everything in it then and now. Noah got a new start in a fresh-smelling world after the flood, yet again, all mankind, including Noah, blew it. 

This sin problem plagues me today; it also includes you and even your sweet neighbor next door.

God planned to save each of us because he still loved us even though we all had broken his heart. He sent his only son, Jesus, to die for our sins. God also provides the Holy Spirit to guide and light the way when we start to drown. He continues to rescue us. He will never stop loving and forgiving us so we can breathe in His goodness, a fresh start after the rain. 

Has God ever asked you to do something so unbelievable that people thought you were crazy for doing it? About twenty years ago, God asked my husband and I if we could take in an eighteen-year-old who was losing her foster placement in January of her senior year in high school. Can I say what a wild and wavy ride this has been for me for the last twenty years? But God’s promise of never leaving or forsaking me has held me firm in the turbulence. And now a rainbow of a relationship in 2024; what could be better?

Next Steps

Have you ever received a crazy plan from God? Fulfilling his plan demands a daily surrendered walk. Continue to build your Rooted Rhythms and consider teaching this redemptive story of Noah’s Ark to your children, your friend’s children, or your grandchildren. (James Earl Jones narrates this Caldecott-winning book.)