People began to forget about God. They did wicked things. The Lord’s heart was full of pain when he saw how they behaved. Only one man, Noah, pleased God. The Lord came to Noah and said, “Noah, I want you to build a big boat out of gopher wood. Then I want you to fill it up with all kinds of animals, and take your wife and your sons and their wives and get in it.” The Lord told Noah that he was going to destroy humankind with a flood that would cover the whole world. Only Noah and his family and the animals with him would be saved.

Noah worked hard, and with the help of his sons he built the boat, called an ark, just the way God had told him. At last the ark was finished. God caused pairs of every kind of animal and bird on earth, males and females, to come to Noah. He herded them into the ark. Then Noah and his wife, his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives, all went inside the ark. For seven days they waited. For seven days they watched the sky. And on the seventh, it began to rain.

It rained for forty days and forty nights. Noah saw the waters rise, destroying the world. But the ark floated above it all, keeping Noah and his family safe. For 150 days, the water covered the earth. Then God sent a wind to blow, and the waters began to go down.

One day Noah sent out a dove to see if the bird could find a place to land. That evening the bird returned with an olive leaf in its beak! Noah knew then that the earth was almost dry. Finally, God told Noah and his family to come out of the ark.

Noah thanked God for saving his family, and gave the Lord an offering. God promised never again to flood the whole earth. He made a rainbow in the clouds and told Noah and his family that every time he saw it, he would remember his promise not to flood the world.

OBEDIENCE

The Story of Noahs Ark can be found in Genesis 6-9. Noah's life involved not one, but two great and tragic floods. The world in Noah's day was flooded with evil. The number of those who remembered the God of creation, perfection, and love had dwindled to one. Of God's people only Noah was left. God's response to the severe situation was a 120-year-long last chance, during which he had Noah build a graphic illustration of the message of his life. Nothing like a huge boat on dry land to make a point! For Noah, obedience meant a long-term commitment to a project.

Many of us have trouble sticking to any project, whether or not it is directed by God. It is interesting that the length of Noah's obedience was greater than the lifespan of people today. The only comparable long-term project is our very lives. But perhaps this is one great challenge Noah's life gives us - to live, in acceptance of God's grace, an entire lifetime of obedience and gratitude.

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