Each time I've had this story taught to me, though in many different styles and by many different teachers, the focus has been fairly similar.
The ark, the flood, the animals, but most importantly-the rainbow.
Re-cap: Noah was a cool dude so God saved him and his family from destruction and showed them a pretty rainbow and we can all breathe a little easier now because God will never flood the Earth again. The end.
Great!
Wrong.
I don't think it's the rainbow that should always be the main focus, here. What about all the days, months, years before the rainbow?
What about all the sleepless nights before the flood ever came?
What about all of the hours in the hot sun, in the dirt, hammering away at an ark that nobody else thinks will do you any good?
Rarely ever mentioned, but so important.
Sometimes God gives you a hammer.
"What am I supposed to do with this, God?"
Response: "Work. Build. Hammer."
We hear God, but we look down at that hammer and question, "That's great God, but where's the pay off? Where's the harvest? Where's the flood you promised? Where's that rainbow?"
God's answer?
"Just keep hammering."
The least fun answer we can get.
No time frame of when our dreams will be fulfilled.
No clear plan of action.
Just build.
I might be going out on a limb here, but I can't believe that Noah never questioned what he was doing some days. Sure, Noah found "favor" in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8), but he was still human and he had a family to provide for. Can you imagine if God told you today to quite your day job and to start building an ark?
If you live in Seattle, maybe this wouldn't be so strange, but anywhere else, doesn't get that much rain. In fact, where Noah was, hardly EVER got rain. He was practically building an ark in an Arizona desert.
Day in and day out, Noah hammered. Noah built. Noah fumbled with nails and plywood.
I can see the looks from his neighbors now, the stares of his concerned children, the annoyed tapping of his wife's feet when Noah is more concerned with building an ark than he is helping with the dishes.
Yet, Noah built.
Noah hammered.
Noah waited.
Noah got up each day, looked to the sky for rain clouds, saw an empty sky and yet continued to work and work hard.
Sometimes God asks us to wait, to hammer, to work hard, when we would rather skip to the part about the dove and the rainbow.
Has God given you a dream?
A vision?
A glimpse into what He has for you?
I know He has me. I know He has my husband.
We look to the sky for rain clouds.
We wait.
Waiting sucks. So does working towards something that seems useless. I'm positive there were days that Noah stood back, looked at the massive piece of scrap wood and thought, "What in the world am I doing? I work all day and all I have to show for it is an empty pocket book and a tired back. Am I going anywhere? Is the rain ever going to come?"
I have so many dreams. I have individual dreams and also dreams that my husband and I share. We question God when the rain will come. We beg Him to show us His timing!
God, where's the flood?
Where's the rainbow we know You have for me, for us?
"Hammer. Build."
It can be a frustrating reply, but often times the answer is simply to keep working. We often have to work hard on seemingly endless, tiring, tasks before God brings us the promises He's made.
If you sow, you will also reap.
Maybe you stand back from your eight to five job some days and wonder how in the world working there is going to get you to where you really want to be, wherever that may be, maybe the sands of another land, an orphanage, etc.
Maybe God is asking you to hammer away at a desk job, but you know that He has your heart elsewhere for a reason.
Take heart.
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood finally came.
Six. Hundred. Years. Old.
He then had to wait another year on a smelly boat to finally reach his destination.
I think you can hammer just a little longer.
Wait for the rain a little longer.
God made His covenant with you, His promise with you; He will keep it.
Your job is to wipe the sweat from your brow, pick up that hammer, look to the sky and work hard.
Do the job you are in to the best of your ability.
Clean toilets better, fix wires better, make copies better, handle phone calls better.
Hammer.
Build.
Wait.
Genesis 9:
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
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