Good morning, DearHeart.
Normally, when there is a chance for snow, I pray for a snow day. A habit left over from childhood. This is the first time I didn’t. I wonder why they have been so important to me? Maybe, they represent a reprieve, a break from the ordinary.
Maybe, they are a reminder that I am safe and warm – that I am inside and everything else is outside. Snow days usually give my heart a time to just be … to take a break from the cares burdening me. Maybe they have been my reminder to simply “rest”.
This morn, Noah and the ark are on my mind.
“Make yourself an ark of gopher-wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.” (Genesis 6:14, NKJV).
The choice of wood, the covering of pitch – which acted as a tar-like substance – all emphasized that the ark was a protection and hiding place. The ark was to keep the elements out and Noah, his family, and the animals safe.
But there is more….
“By faith Noah, being divinely warned of those things not yet seen, moved with Godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” (Hebrews 11:7, NKJV).
Not everything in life is going to make sense.
Coronavirus does not make sense. Surely, for Noah it did not make sense either. Building an ark when he had no idea what rain even looked like. Not even a drizzle.
And … yet … he obeyed.
He followed and completed building the ark, without understanding and enduring the ridicule and the criticism of those around him.
Faith demands an obedience. An obedience to follow God
- when you may not know where you are going,
- or what you are doing
- or what you you will do when you get where you are going.
In the unknowns of these sheltering days, a fresh reminder … just as the pitch kept the elements outside of the ark and kept Noah and company safe, Christ is my covering.
He is my protection.
He is my safety.
To live by faith.
To obey by faith.
Faith doesn’t always make sense at the moment.
Noah was being warned of things not yet known of or experienced.
On days you and I are in need of rest, He will close us in and provide all that we need to continue to move forward in obedience.
Wake up.
Notice snow in green grass.
Even there,protected.
Go.