Monday 3 November 2014

The Comfort on Stormy Seas

Last week I was reading the story of Noah again. Often we can read the Bible  over and over a number of times and each time we see the verses, passages and narratives through fresh eyes. I believe that is because, it is our time. Our time to receive a particular verse or understanding. Our time to receive a particular piece of comfort, or reassurance. I guess that is what Yahweh has been giving to me through the story of Noah. Many of us are traversing our own seas at present. For some the seas are spiritual situations, for others the seas are physical storms like the death of a loved one, or the illness of a child or the loss of a dream. Whatever the case may be, Noah's story is one of comfort.

"Noah and his family stood on the grass and beheld its colour. They stared out across the land in front of them and felt the Gentle Voice say "it is time." Though the land appeared to be resting easy and peacefully, the violent stench of sin permeated the earth, Noah could smell it. He turned to his wife, his sons and daughter-in-laws and as one family they climbed up the wooden plank in to the ark. The animals were safely inside, they themselves were curious but sedate under the magnificant Power of Gods Hand. Noah slid the heavy wooden door closed behind him, as he did he felt a heavy weight bolt the door in place from the outside. God was protecting Noah from his own compassionate heart and as He did, Noah slid on to the floor and rested the back of his head against the door. The sound of thunder and lightning filled the atmosphere, the whips of lightning hit the earth angrily. Hungry spouts of water burst forth from the earth, pushing over one another to consume the dry land. As Noah and his family took refuge within the belly of the ark, screams of the perishing cut the air until all that could be heard was the sound of rushing water. Noah breathed in the daily work of feeding and nurturing Gods creation that was spared within the ark but whenever he could he snuck out on to the back deck. Out on to the furtherest part of the wooden womb so that he could seek his God. God loved Noah and He loved the animals and so Father remembered His creation. The man and the animals He had imagined, formed and created like a beautiful song, all those years ago in the Garden of Endless Light and Intense Love. God remembered Noah and eventually He beckoned the waters to withdraw and the sun to intensify its range, and God He saved them, He saved them all."

Even as I write this I guess this is what it is all about, writing to hear God, writing for myself and for you. The waters that served as a burial ground for the violent and sinful, also served as waters of deep mercy and salvation for Noah and the animals. In this place of literal stormy seas, Noah was given the chance to meet with Yahweh the Creator and Sustainer of Life, in a deeper way then could ever be imagined. Many times he himself must have thought it was crazy, 8 people in an ark with loads of crazy animals, water everywhere and no sign of land, what was God gonna do? Was He even gonna save them? He had killed all the others why should He spare Noah? 

But the truth is that, that ark was the very reminder of how much God loved Noah. It was the very thing that could measure God's Love and mercy. While I believe Noah stood many days out on the deck, wondering about it all, perhaps he did not realise that the very promise He was searching for, the very hope he needed to anchor his soul, was the very wooden deck he was standing on.
Think about it for a moment and think about the stormy seas surrounding you.
What does it look like out there? Is it dark and grey? I know I am facing some dark and grey.
Is the wind cold? Cold enough to give you a headache? Does it whip your hair across your face, leaving it knotty and unrefined. Is there no sight of land, no source of light to be had in the distance, not even a beam from a lighthouse to show the rocks! Where is the end we so long for, why is it not in sight. Then you and I have got to ask ourselves, what are we standing on?
Are we "walking the plank" throwing ourselves overboard for certain death or are we standing on the wooden deck of the ark God has provided?
The ark is the place of refuge, it's the womb if you like, of God. Deeper still - it's the cross of Yeshua.
Waters gushed around the ark rocking it from one side to the other - that's how we felt as babies in the womb. Water gushed out from the side of Yeshua while He hung on the tree for you and me. Water to make us clean, water to strengthen our parched souls, water to fill us and make our pained pasts and wounds, whole. The cross is the very thing that holds us, the place of intimate prayer and keeping steady in God's word when it's tough, even if you dont see results yet, that's the wooden ark God has provided. 


Hebrews 2:10
 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

I have fallen in love with this verse in Hebrews. It describes our Saviour - as the Captain of our Salvation. I imagine the stormy seas and myself at the bow of the ship, slicker on, waves crashing but all the while the Captain, he is steering my ship because He can read the compass. He knows the seasons and the reasons, He knows my heart and He feels it's beat, He is the captain of my Salvation. On the day that Noah and his family left that ark, they must have kissed the ground and realised it was a day of their salvation. Amidst the devastation that was, was a chance for purest salvation. Imagine how green the grass was and how clean the air was, imagine how joyful the spiritual atmosphere was and how amazing a second chance was. 
Our stormy seas are places of where we can draw closer to God, it is the place that can determine how mature we are, it is a place that can give us a closer walk with God, but only if you let go and allow Him to be the Captain.
I am praying that in your stormy sea, God's love will enfold you, that He will wrap His loving wings around us and draw us nearer. May our storm make us stronger in the end! Lastly, Noah's name in Hebrew means comfort or rest, so may our Noah seasons become places where we find God's intimacy of comfort and rest.

                    I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth

6 comments:

  1. Yes ma'am. In the stormy seas He leads us through & uses them to bring out our growth and His glory. Amen!

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  2. Beautiful. How often has God been my "ark" in the storm? More times than I can count! Happy to be your neighbor at SDG.

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    1. Hey Elizabeth - happy you are my neighbor good to meet you! Amen how many times has God been my ark too, when it was so dark and stormy I am so thankful! Many blessings!

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  3. I love this about scripture, how it is alive and active, speaking a new word to us each time we dip in. Lovely thoughts here, friend! Thanks for being a part of the Playdates community!

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    1. Hey Laura Thank you for stopping by - I love PLaydates oh yeah! May you be super blessed this week!

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