Recently, in Kenya, I opened a borehole. Water is a much-needed commodity, and on the first day of testing, when the water was gushing out at thousands of litres per hour, an unusual phenomenon occurred: a whole variety of animals and birds gathered to drink from the pipe. They weren’t taken there; they went there of their own volition. It is like they just knew. I tell you that for a reason.
“Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. 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. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.” (Genesis 7 v 6-16)
There are a few things to note here. I will embolden them.
The animals and birds came to Noah. He didn’t hunt for them to capture them and drag them into the ark. They came. I’m reminded of the borehole in Kenya. Except this is so much different – they were already paired up as if done so supernaturally. This is a miracle all in itself. How does this happen? God makes a way. That’s it. Maybe you are wondering how it will happen for you? God makes a way.
If that point alone isn’t a stand-alone encouragement, there is more.
If the ark represents our salvation in Christ—which it does—then we have this superb detail in v16: “The Lord shut him in.”
Noah never shut himself in. He didn’t close the door. God did. It is God who saves. It is all of Him.
Inside, they are in between worlds. The old world is ending. The new one hasn’t yet emerged. Do you know that feeling? In between the 2 seasons. You are leaving and cleaving. It is a journey of courage. Will this boat sink? God begins to bring judgment as the springs burst open and the rain falls from the sky. Inside the ark, there is mercy, and outside the ark, there is judgment. However, His intention is not to commence again; it is not to start a new creation. No. God is a God of hope. There is a remnant to begin with. He made provision within the judgment. This tells me that even on the worst day, there is hope.
God will make a way for you.
God saves you.
God is the hope for you.
Encouraged?
Missions Paul 