God Floods the Earth
I received an anonymous e-mail this week. It was sent from my website A Good Word. The e-mail reads,
“I have strayed from gods will and I am lost as can be. I’m alcoholic and I
have managed to push away anyone in my life that loves me. I am
spiritually physically and financially bankrupt. Please say a small prayer
that the lord might guide me through these troubled times in my life.”
This prayer request touched my soul. I said, “Lord, how do I pray to You for this request? How might You guide this reader away from his life of despair?” It occurred to me that the floodwaters of destruction have surrounded this reader, but how does he escape the certain drowning that he seems doomed for?
When I was growing up, after I started growing a brain to figure things out, the story of Noah was another one of the Bible stories that was difficult for me to comprehend. I would try to reason, “How could enough water come to flood the world?” Well, I lived through a flooding storm that hit Macon a few years ago. It was a tropical storm that moved up from Florida and parked over Central Georgia for a few days. I became a believer of how easily God could flood the earth. The rains in Macon washed out most all the bridges. Many small lakes had their dams to break that flooded more land.
Have you ever witnessed a flooding rain?
I now subscribe to a quarterly magazine called Answers in Genesis. It is neat reading articles written by world-renowned scientists explaining all the scientific signs of the Great Flood. Did you know that on most all tall mountain ranges in the world, fossils of sea life are found? Now there are many articles and stories written in this magazine that are just too complicated for me to understand, but here’s a story that I can understand:
One day Noah announced there were seven days to go. If anyone wanted to join him and his family and miss out on the great dying, then they were quite welcome. A number of his friends were tempted, but weren’t really convinced and didn’t want to be seen as fools like Noah.
Sure, he was a nice guy and a good friend. He talked too much about God, but he was honest, thoughtful, and he always helped you when you needed it. Seven days to go and not an animal in one of the cages on board that boat! He had to be nuts.
Some began having second thoughts when animals did start arriving. Then the countryside seemed to turn into a walking zoo. Animals, including many they had never seen before—and birds flying in from all directions.
It was as though they all had compasses zeroed in on the boat out in the middle of Noah’s property. And they kept on pouring in, day after day. It was rather unnerving. There were no herds of animals. Occasionally there were seven of each type, but in most cases just two—a male and a female. And they were all young — no older than a year or two, so even the brachiosaurs were not much bigger than horses.
After three days, a carnival atmosphere had developed, with fast food stalls and vendors on the main road feeding and entertaining the thousands of onlookers.
And now the day had arrived, and the roads were packed with people who had come to have a real laugh at old Noah. But if the past week had been unnerving with all the animals arriving, it was positively weird today because there were no more—not one!
Just then, Noah came to the great side door, as if to make a speech. ‘See you tomorrow, Noah!’ someone called out. Everyone joined in the laughing and jeering. When it died down, Noah spoke.
‘I want to thank those who helped me so much in working on this project. I am deeply grateful. I’ve talked to many of you over these past years about why this boat has been built. I’ve told you that God is patient and kind and does not want anyone to perish, but that His patience was running out. I have urged you to turn from your rebellion against God and from your selfish ways, and to trust God and to join me when the day arrives.
‘Relatives, friends and neighbors, the day has arrived! You can come and join me and my family now if you believe what God has said. If not, I’m sorry but I have to say goodbye. You will never see me again.’
And he went out into the crowd and shook hands with those he’d known for so many years. He tearfully hugged his brothers and sisters, who also thought he was crazy. His grandfather Methuselah hadn’t thought so. He had encouraged him greatly in building the boat, but had died just a few weeks ago at the age of 969. His name meant ‘when he dies, it shall come’—that made sense now.
As Noah went through the door opening, one of his design engineers called out, ‘How are you going to lift the door shut? You’ve got the bolts and locks for when it’s up and shut, but how will you shut it?’ ‘Yeah! How are you going to shut the door, Noah? How ya gonna shut the door?’ the crowd chimed in, amidst swelling, mocking laughter.
And then slowly a hush fell over the crowd as first one person—and then another—saw it. The end of the massive door that was resting on the ground began to lift by itself, swinging up slowly and silently until it thudded shut into its opening. In the dead quiet that followed, they distinctly heard Noah and his sons fitting the bars and catches to it.
‘Whew, that makes you think, doesn’t it?’ someone said. ‘Spooky,’ said another. But as time went on and nothing more happened, the carnival atmosphere and jeering returned. ‘See ya in the morning, Noah!’
What was that? Did the ground move? There it was again. A mild but distinct movement under-foot. Suddenly pandemonium broke loose! The ground shook and swayed, throwing everyone off their feet. Huge cracks snaked across the countryside. Water began shooting out of the ground like massive fountains, and fire and steam could be seen pouring out of the distant hills.
Panic shot through the crowd as they bounced helplessly on the ground. One of the engineers vividly remembered Noah’s insistence that the ship be built dozens of times stronger than he thought it ever needed to be—but that thought drowned as a wall of water hit him and the others and swept them all away. The sky was now black, and incredibly violent rain began. And in the deepening, surging waters Noah’s boat began to float. 1
Did you catch it about the door shutting? What happened? God shut the door.
Look in Genesis 7:16 (The Good News Translation) “Then the Lord shut the door behind Noah.”
Do you think that God will finally shut an open door? What about in our life?
The Bible says in Luke 13: 23-25, (New International Version)
“Someone asked him (Jesus), ‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’ He said to them, ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.”
Do you think that people were standing on the outside door to Noah’s Ark pleading for him to open the door?
Why does Jesus tell us to enter through the narrow door? Why is it narrow?
The Bible says in Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Why does Jesus say that “broad is the road that leads to destruction”? What does this mean? Can you give me some examples of a “broad road” in our daily life? Could a dependency on alcohol be a “broad road” toward destruction? There are many other “broad roads” that lead to destruction (most all are addictive). The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:12, "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything.”
Why would a loving God, finally shut a door? Why didn’t He build the Ark with several emergency doors all around the Ark? In that way, you could get in after the flood starts if you could work hard enough to work your way to the emergency doors.
Why wouldn’t a loving God let everyone into His heaven? I have heard people say, “My god is a loving god. He wouldn’t allow anyone to go to a place called hell if it is as bad as sounds.” What do you think about this?
I’m in the gasoline sales business. I visit some of our gas stations from time to time. There is a very nice owner in one particular store, and we have friendly conversations that I enjoy. He is a Muslim. One day I got the courage to ask this store owner if he were to die today, what would happen to him? He told me that he hoped to go to heaven. I asked him how he got into heaven. He told me that if his good works outweighed his bad works, then he’s in. I said, “It’s that easy, huh?” He then said that it wasn’t easy, but that he didn’t know where he balanced out at this time.
His way is wide. Many people of the world travel that broad road. I told him that all religions of the world believed in working your way into heaven by your good works. He smiled and seemed glad that I agreed with his faith. Then I said, “Well, all but one.” This caught him off guard a little. I told him that I was a Christian, and that Christianity was the only religion where you couldn’t work your way into heaven. I told him that Jesus said,
John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the narrow door.
Unfortunately today, my Muslim friend is one of Noah’s neighbors standing outside of the Ark. He even scoffed at me one day to another one of our salesmen that stopped by. He asked the salesman about where I was, (because he likes me). Then he said to the salesman, “Robby’s a Jesus freak.” To this Muslim, I am Noah…a very nice man, but crazy.
Today, I am like Noah. I’m inviting you to get into the Ark with me. There is a day of judgment coming.
You may be thinking, “Robby, I like coming here to your website, and standing outside of your Ark listening to your stories about your relationship with God. I think that it’s real neat to see your passion for the Lord. I know who He is and thank you for reminding me about Him. But I’m not ready to climb into that Ark just now. That doorway does seem mighty narrow. I’m just more comfortable out here with all this open space. You see, I kinda like my freedom now. I’m afraid that if I climb into that Ark with you, I’ll feel confined. I might miss out on a little fun. I’m afraid that the Ark may take me to a place that I don’t want to go, like Africa to be a missionary. But I promise to climb in later with you!
You sound committed. Commitment is good. I often will hear preachers ask for a commitment to follow Jesus. This is easy to do. This is like standing outside of the Ark and saying, “Robby, I am going to get in one day. I’m committed!”
If that’s you, later might not ever come. You know, I was very much like that for most all of my life. I lived a good life and had my share of fun, but I pray that I never give up the life I have here in the Ark. You see, instead of me being committed, I submitted. I climbed into the Ark. I finally said, “You are Lord. You direct my life. Go ahead and shut the door to all the offerings of the outside world. I will follow Your Word and go to wherever You float this Ark.” I am at such a deeper level of peace and assurance than I have ever been before. I am more liked, more respected, more blessed, more everything than I have ever been before. This Ark stuff really works! There is hardly a day that goes by that I don’t say, “Thank you Lord! I see Your hand all over this.”
My Ark ride led me to you. I didn’t end up in Africa, yet. My ride brought me here to this place today. My purpose is to ask you to get into the Ark with me before God shuts the door. This is the answer for my reader’s prayer request at the beginning of this lesson. He asked for, “a small prayer that the lord might guide me through these troubled times in my life.” He must climb into the Ark and submit to the Lord’s guidance.
So how do you come into the Ark with me? You just step through the narrow door. You repent (turn away) from all of the worldly sins that you may have been doing. You do that by stepping out of the world, and into the confines of the Ark. You leave that world behind you. Then you allow God to shut the door to the world’s offerings, and let Him guide you to your destiny. He has great plans for you if you submit. Did you know that the Ark did not have an engine, a sail, or a rudder? It was guided by the Lord. Let Him take control of your life by asking Jesus to be your Lord. I promise you this: This is a money back guarantee. You will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, regret getting into the Ark.
Robby
1 Renton Maclachlan, Answers in Genesis, March 1999
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