CHAPTER 6

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.

12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

14 So make yourself an ark of cypress [3] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. [4]

16 Make a roof for it and finish [5] the ark to within 18 inches [6] of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.

The biblical story of Noah and the ark involves the elimination of all humanity by a great and terrible flood. Noah is instructed to build a big boat and take a sample of all animal life on board, a male and female of each species. In this way life will be able to begin again after the flood waters would have subsided.

Not only was Noah a boat builder, and by extension a captain, he had the incredible duty of having to be perhaps the busiest zoo keeper ever in the history of mankind. Even before the flood he would have had to grow enough food for a microcosm of humanity to feed on for at least 40 days.

Can you imagine what life must have been like for at least 150 days on the ark?

Can you imagine being locked up with the sights, sounds and smells of all of those animals? It is hard for us to be at home for 2 days on the weekend, what about someone in solitary confinement in a small prison cell for 30 days? Or what about someone in a hotel quarantine for 2 or 3 weeks?

The story of Noah hits home to me during this time of the pandemic in that the beginning of the lock down felt like the day the Lord closed the door of the ark. There was a finality to it. For those who scoffed at Noah and did not take his warnings.

The story of Noah has so many powerful images applicable to us in our present day. The releasing of the raven and then the dove to assess the situation on the outside of the boat speaks of hope when the dove brings back the olive branch. Things are subsiding, the waters are going down, dry ground will appear again. We must hold on to hope. Our covid numbers are declining rapidly, fewer and fewer people are getting ill. We are going to get through this. God has a beginning and an end to all things. How we manage in the middle is our test. At the end of the flood, the scriptures tell us that Noah goes on to plant a vineyard and begin his new life here on earth. We are not told what he did for a living before the flood, but we do know that for a few good years well he was a marine engineer, carpenter, painter, then a zoo keeper and farmer during the flood. He re-invented himself! This is what we need to do to survive and thrive during and after this life changing pandemic. How are you going to re-invent yourself?

Life is changed, not ended.