A Lenten series on Mountaintop Moments
– Noah on the
mountains of Ararat
(Click on the
link below to read the verses.)
Genesis 8:20-9:17
[In this Lenten
series, we will be looking at Mountaintop Moments. These mountains are more
than just geographical features. They symbolize divine encounters and moments
of revelation, faith and transformation. In other words, meeting God on the
mountain top.]
When doing homework during high school, there were
times when I would get stuck, especially with math. But I didn’t worry about it
because I’d ask my dad for help. The only thing is, he’d never just give me the
answer.
Instead, he asked me questions that made me think
through how to get the answer myself. And when I finally understood and the
light would come on, my dad would always say, “Now you’re cooking with gas!” I
had no idea what that meant, but I knew he was praising me, and I would beam
with confidence and pride.
There was a time in ancient history when things got
really, really bad. The Lord saw how wicked people had become. In fact, the
world was full of evil and violence to the point that the Lord regretted that
he ever created mankind.
Because of this, the Lord said that he was going to “destroy
every living thing — all the people, the animals and even the birds of the sky”.
But not Noah, because Noah “walked faithfully with God”.
Therefore, even though there was no large body of
water within miles, the Lord instructed Noah to build an ark. The reason that
an ark would be needed was that the Lord was going to bring a flood upon the
land.
It took Noah decades to construct it. You can
imagine the abuse that he received from the wicked people for building such a
large boat out in the middle of nowhere. And the cost must have been
staggering. Yet, by faith, he continued.
Finally, when it was done, he boarded the boat along
with his family and all the animals that the Lord had told him to take. When it
stopped raining, the water slowly receded, the land dried and the ark settled
on the mountains of Ararat.
Can you imagine what it was like for Noah when he got
off the ark? They had lived there for thirteen months and when they came out, everything
was dead… including all the people. It must have been shocking!
Yet, Noah’s first response was to build an altar to
the Lord and make a sacrifice to him. The Lord was pleased with his sacrifice.
And maybe sensing that Noah needed some reassurance, he blessed Noah and made a
covenant with him to never destroy all life on earth again by a flood.
On the mountains of Ararat, Noah had a personal
encounter with the Lord. And like my dad’s praise of “Now you’re cooking with
gas!”, the Lord blessed and praised Noah for his faithfulness and righteousness.
From this story, we can learn a great deal about the
character of God. We can see his redemptive nature. That even when mankind is rebellious,
evil and violent, he always provides a means for redemption and restoration.
That’s what Jesus Christ did on the cross. Now,
all we need to do is to get on the boat and listen for our Heavenly Father to
say, “Now you’re cooking with gas!”.
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