The Bible notes that Noah is six hundred years old when the Flood waters came in Genesis Chapter 6. I don't care if the years and months or sense of time translation got mixed up in this case. Noah was old. He was an old man building a boat and gather pairs of animals so he could float around for forty days and nights while a downpour flooded the world. He wasn't some powerful figure in charge. He was just a random old guy who also loved the Lord.
God sends animals to the ark, and Noah with his wife and sons and their wives all go into the ark. So in total less than ten people, and a whole bunch of animals. How in the world would they get the ark closed after all those animals went into the boat? Simple. As the Bible puts it, "The Lord shut him in." Noah didn't close the door, nor the sons, nor any manmade creation. God helped seal up Noah in the ark. Why does this matter? Because to me it's a metaphor for how much God was involved in Noah's life.
When it comes to doing things, God will ask us to act. He puts it on us to follow through with his words and do his good works. Charity work, church work, leadership, all these things require our action. However, human action without God's influence is meaningless. We have to build the boat and prep the area. God has to go send the animals and do the heavy lifting to close the door.
In our lives, God does the heavy lifting quite often. We may feel alone and displaced at times, especially when we are trying to do the right things. The right things aren't often the easy things. However, God makes them work by his guiding hand. Even if we are struggling through forty days and nights of stormy weather, the Lord is our shepherd. He didn't simple send Noah into a boat and hope for the best. He protected that ark against the elements.
The rest of the world wasn't so lucky. When God passes judgement, it has a terrible finality. God determined that the world he created wasn't fit to live, so he wiped it out in one swoop. We can't forget that God is all-powerful, he is all-knowing, and he is the arbiter of justice and truth. As human beings, we can pretend that we have the ability to question God's justice. As free-willed beings, we do have that right, but we will always end up losing. In the end, God always has the final say. That makes many people uncomfortable, because it also makes them realize how insignificant our human power and intelligence really is.
But the good news is that God has the power to save us. He has the power to shepherd us and care for his children that follow him in their hour of need. Whether or not he chooses to do that is up to his will though, not ours. That can be scary, but it can also be comforting. God is not a simple being. He is the complex creator of our world, meant to be worshiped, loved, and even feared.
Study Thoughts:
1 - Can you think of a time when God was acting in your life as you were acting for God?
2 - What would be the worst part of getting stuck on a boat for over a month with a bunch of animals?
3 - Have you ever thought about how a just God and a benevolent God can be the same God?
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