Creator, Father, King #48

It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood.

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE you read the story of Noah’s ark?

Once? Twice? Ten times? Fifty times? Never?

Regardless of your familiarity with this famous story, as a twenty-first-century reader, it’s easy to skim it and miss the magnitude of what you’re reading.

But look again and marvel at what God told Noah to do:

Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.

God did not ask Noah to build a schooner, tugboat, pontoon, or a dinghy. The ark was bigger than an NFL-sized football field and roughly four stories tall! Noah couldn’t contract the work out to a construction company. He couldn’t use a crane, forklift, or even a battery-operated screwdriver to do it himself.

No, he and his three sons found whatever ancient tools were available and painstakingly did the work by hand.

One . . . nail . . . at . . . a . . . time.

What’s It Mean?

If Noah’s amazing obedience in building something that massive isn’t impressive enough, consider his faith. He lived in ancient Mesopotamia, probably a long way from any large bodies of water. What would he do with this gigantic boat after it was built?

That would have been an obvious question for most folks. But God had already told Noah the answer: “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes” (Genesis 6:17).

Thousands of years later, here’s how the writer of Hebrews recorded Noah’s remarkable response: “It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before” (11:7).

What about you? Ark building might not be in your future, but God does want you to display Noah-like faith. God is far greater than your circumstances. He wants your obedience, even when he asks big things of you. And he will always keep his promises, even if your eyes can’t immediately see what he’s up to.

Will you trust him?

Now What?

Noah-like faith doesn’t happen magically. Pray for God to increase your faith.

Did You Know?

After the Flood, the ark came to rest on “the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4), which are in modern-day Turkey.