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.
