Shut In – Day 40: What God Says… He Does

For context, first see the other posts in this series:
Part I: The Lord Shut Him In
Part II: Day 10: The Animals
Part III: Day 20: The Man Noah
Part IV: Day 30: The Walls

Forty-seven days ago, God told Noah, “I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” (Genesis 7:4)

A week later, God shut Noah and his family into the ark with all the animals to be saved.

And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. (7:12)
The flood continued forty days on the earth. (7:17)

Today marks the 40^th day since the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month… the day when the flood began.

Now something exciting has happened: the seemingly endless rain has stopped!

The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained (8:2)

What a relief that must be! But don't think that it is silent now. The wind has picked up.

And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. (8:1)

Yet there is another silence that must be felt by each one on the ark: the complete absence of any other human life on the face of the earth.

Not only did God live up to His word of the rain lasting ”forty days and forty nights.” He also had to follow through on His words:
- “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” (6:7)
- “I have determined…” (6:13)
- “I will…” (6:17)

What God Says… He Does.

And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died… Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. (7:21-23)

Sin has consequences.

But so does faith-filled obedience, as we will see later on in Noah’s history.

We won’t be checking in with him so often now. Even though it has already felt like a long journey, the time of being shut in the ark has hardly begun.

We don’t have any clue that Noah knew anything more about the timing after the 40 days of rain were complete. Judging from our own lives, it is probably best if he didn’t know how many months he had left shut in there with his small family and a crowd of animals, working and… waiting.

But as Jim Elliot once wrote in a season of very difficult waiting for him and the woman he loved but didn’t know if they would ever marry:

“Waiting on Him for Whom
it is no vain thing to wait,
Jim”

Can we, like Noah, sign our names along with Jim?

Next Post in Series:
Part VI: Day 70: After the Crisis

Sky photo by Chris Nguyen on Unsplash

When Bugs are Going Round

What do you do when you know you've been exposed to a bug?

For years now, our family keeps these on hand for such times:

And thanks to Dr. Z. of the Natural Living Family, our go-to immune boosting recipe is:

- 1 tsp Coconut Oil

- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon 

- 1 tsp (or less) raw Honey

- Salt

- 1 drop immune boosting essential oil blend

- 1 packet Liposomal Vitamin C

Mix together and eat up to 4 times daily if ill. Yum!

Regarding the essential oil blend:

The Natural Living Family makes their own with equal parts of lemon, orange, cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus, and rosemary EOs

Shut In – Day 30: The Walls

Has anyone else been thinking of Noah this week? A friend of mine just gave her new baby that name a couple days ago!

But it has been a long month for the most famous Noah on the ark by now… 30 days since we first took note that God “shut him in.”

And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. – Genesis 7:19

After our last visit to Noah got so long, this one will be very short.

It is still raining.

Imagine how moist and smelly the ark must be by now – just from all the humidity in the air. Have you ever smelled wet wool with its heavy, greasy pungency? And that would be the pleasantest smell to me among all the animals.

Now imagine the complete lack of sunshine for 30 days. The constant noise. The intense labor. And the ongoing grief for the past and unknowns for the future.

Does it feel like the walls are closing in?

And yet, the walls that shut him in are also the visible sign of God’s provision and protection… a reminder of the covenant God made with Noah in Genesis 6:18.

What feels like it is shutting you in today?

How may God be using that very thing to show you more of His goodness today?

Photo: sunrise through frosty window yesterday

Previous posts in this series:
Part I: The Lord Shut Him In
Part II: Day 10
Part III: Day 20

Next Post:
Part V: Day 40: What God Says... He Does

Whiter Than Snow

Since taking these photos, our snow has gotten even dirtier. The top, white layer is gone, and our yard is mostly a grey-black.

That has brought a verse and song to mind day after day. How thankful we can be that God washes away our guilt not just to be "as white as snow," but "WHITER than snow."

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

• Psalm 51:7-8

And the song:

Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole;
I want Thee forever to live in my soul;
Break down every idol, cast out every foe—
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Refrain:
Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow,
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Lord Jesus, look down from Thy throne in the skies,
And help me to make a complete sacrifice;
I give up myself, and whatever I know—
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Lord Jesus, Thou seest I patiently wait;
Come now and within me a new heart create;
To those who have sought Thee Thou never said’st “No”—
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

• James L. Nicholson, 1872

Shut In – Day 20: The Man Noah

 

Today's notes ended up longer than expected. I hadn't realized there were quite so many clues about Noah in a couple chapters until my new journaling Bible inspired closer observation!

It is already feeling rather long since I first wrote about Noah and how “the LORD shut him in” the ark. But this is only day 20.

The storm is still raging – the rain still beating.

The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. – Genesis 7:18

Meanwhile, Noah and his family are safely shut in the ark they had built according to God’s directions. Why was he saved while the rest of mankind was destroyed? The history record is clear:

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen. 6:5)

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Gen. 6:8)

That puts Noah in a special group of people… those whom the Bible cites as having “favor” with God. The others I have found so far are:

Moses in Exodus 33:12 – Moses said to the LORD,… you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’

Samuel in 1 Samuel 2:26 – Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man.

Mary in Luke 1:30 – And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

Jesus in Luke 2:52 – And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

A quick search on Blue Letter Bible will turn up plenty of verses seeking favor with God and man as well as some where God is giving his people favor in the sight of those who would naturally be their enemies (for example: Gen. 39:21, Exo. 11:3, 12:36).

But to have favor in the eyes of the LORD is obviously something special.

Genesis chapter 6 goes on to describe Noah as “a righteous man, blameless in his generation.” That reminds me of how God described Job as “a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil.” (Job 1:8 & 2:3)

As a side note, both Noah and Job are examples of how God doesn’t keep his children insulated from all hardship, but he brings them through triumphantly in the end. 

Maybe, like me, you have long thought of Noah as uniquely protected. And it is true that he was saved from the utter destruction of the earth and its inhabitants in God’s judgement. But I am realizing more and more how his calling was far from easy. 

[Now to return from one of what I once heard Edith Schaeffer call her “parentheses”…]

We are next told that “Noah walked with God.”

That classes this man in an even more exclusive hall of fame – as far as I can find, the description being shared only by his great-grandfather Enoch in Genesis 5:24. Noah never got to meet this man since God took him away (without death) after 365 years on earth. But enough of his faith was obviously passed down through the next 2 generations to be wholeheartedly picked up by the boy born nearly 70 years later.

The next clues to Noah’s walk with God are that he:

- heard from God (6:13, 7:1)

- did all God told him (6:22, 7:5)

- was blessed by God establishing a covenant with him (6:18) – even before Abraham and his descendants were given this honor

The New Testament puts it this way in Hebrews 11:8:

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

In other words, he was not “going with the flow” of the world or trying to fit in. He was the opposite of “politically correct.” He would have been mocked, sidelined, called names (sound familiar for those who dare to stand on God's word nowadays?) ...Until it began to rain, that is.

All this may leave us wondering, is God’s favor only for these “favored few”? 

Thankfully not! God’s word shows us who else gets blessed with His favor:

For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield. – Psalm 5:12

Again, the righteous sounds impossibly exclusive. And it would be… except for Jesus’ promise in Matthew 5:6* that:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” 

Are we thirsty enough to follow the example of Noah – no matter how rough or lonely the path may be at times?

*[See also Romans chapters 4 and 5]

Other posts in this series:
Part I: The Lord Shut Him In
Part II: Day 10: The Animals

Next Post:
Part IV: Day 30: The Walls

Flood Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash
Rain Photo by Eutah Mizushima on Unsplash

A Snowy Sunday

 March 6th: a snowy Sunday afternoon

Beginning to melt

Getting close to finishing my first-ever hand-spun home-knit garment!

 

Sufficient Grace!

In 2022 I came back to a daily devotional which I haven't read for several years. It is as good and "down-to-earth" as I remembered!

Quiet Moments on the Way Home was written by Norwegian pastor H.E. Wisloff during difficult war-time years. That knowledge makes his scriptural meditations have even more impact.

My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness - 2 Corinthians 12:9

Sufficient Grace! Should we not praise God for this?

It is so easy for us to stare at our infirmities until we become blind to the glorious realities of grace.

We who are so aware of our insufficiency are permitted to live in the eternal sufficiency of God’s grace!

Our feelings are not enough, nor our faith, nor our prayers, nor our godliness. But God’s grace is sufficient.

And not only this, but God’s grace is perfected in our infirmities. It transforms the weakness in our lives into peace, victory, courage, and joy. It is to save us, sanctify us and make us useful in God’s service.

We need nothing more, nor do we solicit anything more. We fold our hands and thank Him who loves us and gives us all that we need. God’s grace is our sufficiency!

H.E. Wisloff, Quiet Moments on the Way Home, January 8th

Lessons from a Sheep Dog

Reginald was our second, lively Border Collie since moving onto this hobby farm in 1985. Neither he nor Kep (named after a dog in Beatrix Potter) ever learned how to handle our flock of sheep, but they found ways to pretend to "herd" anyway.

Even if you haven't tried to raise one of these bundles of intelligent energy, the descriptions in Lessons from a Sheep Dog by Phillip Keller bring them to life in a special way.

And, as in all his books, Keller finds deep spiritual significance in his everyday interactions with the world around him - here focused on a dog named Lass, who was about to be destroyed until she came under the care of a loving and patient shepherd.

"Lass, of course, could not fully comprehend the complexity of the work we were doing. And at times she gave me the distinct impression that for a dog as energetic as she was, to 'stay' was almost asking too much of her.

"God used this element in Lass to teach me a most important principle. I began to grasp the absolute necessity to be quietly steadfast and faithful wherever He placed me. In a sense these interludes in life were a test not only of my faithfulness to God, but also of His to me."

"Lass helped me to understand that it is often in the darkest hour, during pressing danger, that the Master is closest to us. He cares, and He cares profoundly. It is His presence which gives us peace. It is His nearness which gives us hope. It is His protection which gives us life."