TIME TEST

How long will you trust and believe in God’s Word? Will, you become impatient and deviate from what He instructed you to do because a long time has passed? The time test tries a person’s endurance; it shows if you can remain consistent despite what you see or feel. In this blog, I will share information on the life of Noah as found in Genesis 6-9, and how he handled the time test.

Noah is first introduced in Genesis 6:5-8 which states, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

Man’s wickedness and evil practices reached an apex that God could no longer tolerate, and He decided as their punishment He would eradicate them from the face of the earth. However, living during this period was a righteous man named Noah, who found favor with God, and God planned to reward Noah by saving him and his household.

God planned to punish humanity with an event that they had never experienced and it was called a flood. To protect Noah and his family from this catastrophic event God gave Noah specific instructions on building an ark of gopher wood in which he, his family, seven pairs of clean animals, two pairs of unclean animals and daily provision of food for all would be housed. In today’s imperial measurements, the ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high with three levels; it was gigantic.

Research of the scriptures does not reveal how long it took Noah to build this enormous ark, but the scriptures do reveal that Noah was close to 500 years old when God gave him the instructions and 600 years old when the rain started. Also, history does not record a prior vessel of this magnitude being built; therefore, I can only imagine that Noah’s countrymen thought Noah was crazy as they watched him build it. 2 Peter 2:5 states that while Noah was in the building process, he ministered to the people. No doubt, he got weary of building and ministered, but he did not stop. Days turned into months, months turned into years and time elapsed, Finally, the day arrived that the ark was finished and unfortunately, Noah’s countrymen had rejected his message, and now they were going to suffer the consequences.

Genesis 7:1-9 shares the assembling of those that were to be safe in the ark and 7:16 states, “And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in.” It rained for 40 days and nights until the whole earth was submerged in water and every living creature except those in the ark was dead. Noah and his household remained in the ark for approximately one year. One year shut-in with no place to go, one year living with everyone’s body excrements, one year living without their usual comforts, one long year wondering what is going to happen next, and one year grateful to be alive.

Finally, the earth was dry, and God allowed the ark inhabitants to come out, and He said to Noah, “Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.” Also, God established a covenant with mankind that He would never again destroy all flesh by a flood; neither allow a flood to destroy the whole earth, and God’s token of this covenant would be a rainbow in the cloud.

Upon reading the story of Noah, I found God’s communication with Noah was limited. He gave Noah instructions, and Noah followed them. In the building of the ark, and the habitation of the ark, time was long, but Noah’s obedience without continual prompting was seen. Noah had faith to believe that what God said would come to pass, and for this, he and his family were saved. Can we say the same? Are we becoming weary because we do not experience the fruition of God’s word? If so, let me encourage you today to remember Noah. Your trust, obedience, and endurance over time will bring a good reward, and it may also save your family.