Building
a Boat
By Peggy Kleckner
“Build a large boat
from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out…..Make the boat
450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high….So Noah did everything exactly as
God had commanded him.”
Genesis
6:14,15,22 (NLT)
Three
short sentences packed with work and faith. Let’s consider the dimensions of
this boat that God instructed Noah to build. I took out my tape measure and
measured the length, width and height of my kitchen. I measured something
familiar to try and understand the unfamiliar. I found that the length of my
kitchen had to be multiplied thirty times in order to be the same length as
this boat!
God
does not always give easy assignments. Not only is this boat massive in
dimensions, but it includes a roof, three decks and a door. Don’t forget that
he had to waterproof the entire thing inside and out with tar. Finally, I have
to wonder if Noah knew anything at all about boat building.
What
does God’s Word say about Noah? It states that Noah found favor with the LORD,
that he was a righteous man and that he walked in close fellowship with God.
That
is how Noah “did everything exactly as God had commanded him” (v. 22).
All
Noah had was God’s instructions…probably not written-out instructions, they
were “invisible,” so to speak. Then he begins to build according to those
instructions. Think of yourself as perhaps his neighbor. Maybe Noah shared his
mission with you, maybe not. Before long, you begin to see something different
going on at Noah’s home. Perhaps you saw the wood being brought in or heard the
sound of sawing and hammering. Pretty soon something starts to be “visible.”
If
you have accepted Christ as your new master, He has asked you to build an ark
of faith…one day at a time, one board at a time. Your instructions are
invisible to others and yet they have been given to you. So you begin to build.
The work seems impossible because the vision is so BIG, but He has asked and so
you build.
As
your faith is built up in the One who instructs you, it becomes visible to
others. His Word and work become visible. Jesus becomes visible in you. This
may bring scoffing or ridicule from others, but perhaps someone will ask you
why you are building, or where you got the plans. I wonder if that was Noah’s
greatest hope.
GOING
DEEPER:
1.
Have you found favor with the LORD, been made righteous in Christ and now are
walking in close fellowship with the Spirit?
2.
If you have no idea what that means, are you willing to ask someone? If you do,
how is your ark-building coming along?
FURTHER
READING:
Peggy is a wife and
mother of four adult children - - two sons and two stepsons, and is an active
encourager at Oakwood Church in Delafield.
