It Starts Small

When we read the story of Noah, we are amazed at the detailed instructions he gave Noah. He told Noah exactly how to build the ark.

¹⁴ “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside. ¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.¹⁶ You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within eighteen inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks. Genesis 6:14-16

Pretty precise blue prints! We learn something really important through Noah. Noah did not question God in any of it. He did not even know what rain or a flood was, but he just obeyed. Think about some of the things that could have hindered Noah if he was not in complete obedience.

Doubt: did God really ask me to do this? Will God protect us? Will God provide for us?
Fear: what will others think? What if I am a crazy loon and this is all in my head? WHat if this rain or flood never comes? What if this brings shame to my family?
Pride: I am going to build the ark my way. I am going to gather animals myself. I am going to use pine instead of gopher wood.

We could spend a lot time coming up with real world things in our lives that would have prevented Noah from completing the will of God. But by faith, Noah did what he was commanded to do.

⁷ By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Hebrews 11:7

A really interesting part of God’s instructions concerned the door to the ark. It has been suggested that the door on the ark had to be rather large. Considering all the animals and provisions that had to be loaded and eventually unloaded, it was a very large door. God never gave Noah instructions on how the door was to be closed. I wonder if that thought ever crossed Noah’s mind? If it did, it never distracted Noah from completing what God asked.

¹⁶ Those that entered, male and female of every creature, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in. Genesis 7:16

It was the mighty hand of God that shut that door. I believe there is a promise in these words. When God calls us into doing His work, He gives us all the instructions we need. It is very tempting to ask God: why? how? who? etc. But we need to just be like Noah. Go and do as we have heard. The confidence is knowing that God would never ask us to anything he has not or will not provide all we need to accomplish it.

Obedience is not just about following the Lord’s Commands, loving Him first, and loving our neighbors. God has a specific purpose in mind for your life. It can be as radical as building an ark, or just as wonderful as serving within your community or local body of believers. God created us all to be living breathing walking testimonies of Him. We are called to be in a partnership with Christ to go and share that testimony with others. For each of us, that is going to look different from one another.

Are you letting shame hold you back?
Are you letting fear hold you back?
Is your pride getting in the way?

If you could do something for the Lord today, what would it be? Search deep in your heart.

What is a way you would want to serve others to spread the gospel?
What stands between you and that vision?

Today is a great day to seek solitude with God and ask Him for help. Give Him your desire and ask Him to shut the door on it. Confess the impossibility of it, and trust Him to make it a reality.

This may mean you need to take a good look at your life and start determining what is a rock in your backpack and what is necessary. It might mean giving up certain parts of your life that do not move you closer to your vision: like finances, entertainment, a job that consumes your time. Ask God for His help in making the changes in your life to carry out serving him. Remember, service is not limited to “church.” God might be calling you to build a ministry through backpacking in the mountains. God might be calling you to a ministry in underwater basket weaving.

You may be sitting there thinking, I do not have a vision. Ask Him. God honors a heart that desires to serve. It always starts with something small. God is not in the business of clapping his hands and all the sudden a circus pops up in your backyard. No he starts with something small. A whisper of an idea and vision. That small seed begins to grow and blossom into something amazing.

If God has called you, trust Him! He is going to provide!