Rocked by Noah and the Flood

I’m not sure why my heart and mind is so easily captivated by simple, temporal, insignificant things. This is a weakness that I share with almost all of my fellow evangelical brothers and sisters. It is a weakness that C.S. Lewis writes about when he says that we humans are “far too easily pleased”. How many times this week did I find my thoughts being held captive to something that is seen verses unseen?

However, in the Almighty’s mercy and grace, He has allowed me to prepare a sermon for tomorrow. I confess that there are times when I wished I didn’t have to prepare a sermon. Often this is brought on by guilt over past sermons, or laziness, or just the lack of time in my week.

But, there are times like this week. Times when I wish everyone had to prepare a sermon. Because, like me, they would be forced to look at the Bible, whether they wanted to or not. And hopefully like me this week, they would be moved to praise because of the word of the God!

I’ve been living in the story of Noah this week. I wanted to blog about something that will not make its way into my sermon, but that I found deeply moving this week.

  Awhile back, (about two years ago) I purchased the book Noah’s Ark by Peter Spier. It is a children’s book and contains almost no words at all. Just a brief poem in the beginning on a blank white page and just a short line on the first page, followed by page after page of beautifully illustrated pictures that tell the story of Noah and the Ark. Some of these pictures are funny. Like the one that shows Noah’s wife standing on a stool as the mice walk by. Others though, moved me to tears. Like these:

Peter Spier helped me to see something in the story of Noah that I hadn’t thought about before. The page before these two pages include a small drawing of doors on the ark being shut. Then Spier shows us through his art, the awful reality of the judgment of God on those animals that were not included. There they sit as the rain falls and the water rises.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not an animal lover and this has nothing to do with those animals, but everything to do with the sheer magnitude of the story of God’s wrath on the world. More to the point, it has everything to do with the only words Spier authored in the book and they are found on the first page:

“…But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”

 You see, like all OT stories, Noah and the Ark is about the Glory of God, the sinfulness of man, and the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ! Do not treat Noah and the Ark as some cute bedtime story allowing you to make goofy animal sounds for your children. Treat it as it is; horrifically tragic, yet amazingly and profoundly wonderful!

I’ll leave you with that poem in the front of Spier’s book. It was written by the puritan Jacobus Revius 

"High and long, thick and strong, wide and stark was the ark.

Climb on board, Said the Lord, Noah’s kin, clambered in.
Cow and moose, Hare and goose, Sheep and ox, Bee and Fox.
Stag and doe, Elk and crow, Lynx and bear, all were there.
Stork and frog, Skunk and hog, Ape and snail, Stoat and Quail.
Flea and hound, could be found, Lark and wren, Hawk and hen.
Finch and kite flew inside. Dog and cat, Mouse and rat.
Fly and vole, Worm and mole, Creatures all large and small.
Good and mean, Foul and clean, Fierce and tame in they came.
Pair by pair, Gross and fair. All that walked, crawled and stalked.
On dry earth found a berth, but the rest worst and best,
Stayed on shore, were no more. That whole host gave the ghost.
They were killed for the guilt which brought all to the fall.
Later on it was done: Back on land through God’s hand.
Who forgave and did save, The Lord’s Grace be the Praise!"