Genesis Chapter 8 – Crazy or Committed?

Do you believe in long term commitments? What is the longest you have stayed on one job? How many years have you lived in the same house? If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, how long have you been walking in the pathway of faith? Long term commitments are not easy. In this day, making a commitment, period, seems to be difficult. "Oh, well, if I don’t like this situation, I can always change...."

Perhaps God would have our generation stop and reevaluate what it means to be committed. To do so, He gave us a man named Noah. When God saw the flood of evil on the earth, He knew He had to put a stop to it. He looked more closely and He found one man, Noah, who had kept the faith. For the sake of this one faithful steward, He chose not to bring an end to the existence of everything He had created. Instead, He chose to bring about a flood of waters to wash away the wickedness of the earth. He gave Noah the blueprint of His plan.


"Rain? Uh, Lord, I don’t think that word is in my vocabulary…is it a dirty word? I mean, it is a four letter word, you know... Oh, I see…it’s a clean word…you’re going to send "rain" to clean up your world. Well, Lord, that sounds like a good idea to me. It sure could use a bath! But, Lord, you see, I don’t know how to swim…just never took time for those leisure activities.

Build a house that floats? Oh my goodness, Lord, how in the world would I do that? Oh, this scroll contains the blueprints, huh? Well, let’s see.......
Whoooooeeeeeee…that’s some kind of structure! You going for the Guinness World Record here, Lord? Let me take a look at my schedule and see when I can work that project in. Oh.....you want me to start now? Well, I guess it’s either that or take swimming lessons!"

For 120 years Noah worked on the ark. One hundred and twenty years, in case you did not catch the figure in the previous sentence. That is longer than most people live. I don’t know if God knew it would take Noah that long to build the ship, but I do know He was quite gracious to the rest of mankind. He gave them 120 years to change their minds about serving God, and in all that time not one person said, "Yes, Lord, put me to work…I’ll be glad to help Noah." So after that grace period while Noah faithfully pounded away on God’s vessel, God finally told Noah to get on board with his family and with all the creatures in God’s second Parade of the Birds and Beasts.

For forty days "the rains came down and the floods came up", and the houseboat floated. After it stopped raining, the floodwaters stood still for 150 days before God sent a wind to start drying the earth. Noah was 600 years old when he went aboard the ark to become the chief zoo keeper. He had that position for one year and ten days (see Genesis 7:11 and 8:13).

Now, a year long cruise might sound exciting to you, but remember the circumstances in Noah’s trip:

• Eight adults, and thousands of creatures, all with different sounds and smells.
• No ports to stop in and purchase souvenirs.
• No scenery to watch from the upper deck.
• No shuffleboard to while away the hours…probably not even a best seller to read.

Eight adults, thousands of creatures, one floating ark, and water, water everywhere. For one complete year. It took him 120 years to build this vacation boat, and then he served as captain for one solid year. That’s called obedience to God’s call upon his life. That’s called commitment.

Commitment. Following God’s call. Sticking to it. Hanging in there. Riding out the storm. God’s way, or no way.

Lord, may I, like Noah, be found faithful in my commitments. Thank you for your never ceasing promise of "seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night." You are good, all the time!