Part 2

Continuing in that Genesis passage from yesterday....

12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress [c] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out….He went on to tell him how to build it….gave him instructions…and then…well,And in verse 22 it says… 22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Have you ever stopped to think about how long it might have taken Noah to build the ark? By one estimate on the Internet, it took him 98 years. It actually does not tell us in the Bible, so you have to make some deductions and inferences based on his children’s ages and such to get there…but 98 years!
And while that by itself is hard to fathom…what struck me beyond that was that the Bible is silent on whether or not God spoke to Noah over that time…
Can you imagine?
Noah hears from God about a mind-boggling, change-the-world kind of prophecy…and Noah’s role is huge. He is building a boat in the desert and it is the thing that will keep his family safe….PRESSURE…
Crazier still, for the next century he may not have heard from God at all…
You see, the next time Noah hears from God (that we know of), it was when he was done with the project.

GEN 7:1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

98 years without another word from God and yet, he obeyed! To me, that is amazing. I know that I worry about where my career is going and what I spend my time on…and if I spend very much time on something…it is easy to wonder whether or not God is blessing it if I am not seeing the fruit right away…but Noah spent nearly a lifetime on this project but he stayed obedient and he was enabled to see God’s plan fulfilled.