In whatever you set your hands to do, do all for the Glory of God

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.  By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. --Hebrews 11:7

There is an old, old joke about a woman stuck in her home during a flood.  Fervently she prayed for deliverance, and believed in her heart that God would rescue her by His own hand.  At first, a large truck with four-wheel-drive and enough ground clearance to avoid flooding the exhaust drove up.  The driver offered to take her out of harm's way.  "No," she said. "God will save me."  As the water rose, she was forced to the second story of her home.  A boat floated by, and the boatman offered to let her float to safety with him.  "No," she said.  "God Himself will save me."  The waters rose still higher, and she was forced onto the roof of her house.  A helicopter flew by, and the pilot hovered over.  They dropped a rope ladder for her to grab hold of, to be flown to safety.  Adamantly, the woman shook her head.  "God Himself, by His power, will save me."  Finally she was overtaken by the rising water, and she drowned.  She stood before God, and he welcomed her to heaven, for she was a faithful Christian.  As grateful as she was, she couldn't help but ask, "Lord, why didn't you save me from the flood like I asked?"  God turned and said, "I tried three times.  You wouldn't take my help."

This story was recounted by a radio preacher I heard, who was preaching on Hebrews chapter 11, the Hall of Fame of Faith.  He spent a few moments on Noah before going on to other heroes of the faith also mentioned in the chapter.  The points he made were right on target:  God had promised to destroy the world, but He had provided an escape; Noah acted on God's command in order to save himself and his family, as well as all the animals; and no matter how hard it was to stay in the ark for 120 days (fighting seasickness and the stench of all those animals), neither Noah nor his family ever decided to bail out of the ark and swim for it--as hard as it was, it was better than being under water with the world.

As I am wont to do from time to time, I began to mull over the truths I heard in the sermon, ruminating on different ideas that came to my mind from Scripture I had read.  Expanding on what the preacher said on the radio, I looked for other examples of God giving a Plan, of man building the thing according to God's plan, and then after the thing was dedicated to God, man used it for his good and God's glory.  Along with the Ark of Noah, I thought about the Altar of God's Temple, and the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of Noah
Building the ark took faith.  It took foresight.  It cost Noah his friends.  Yet Noah was so faithful to God that he believed the problem that God posed to him--the world had become so wicked that God decided to wipe it out and start over.  Noah overcame this hurdle. (Face it, what evidence was there that the whole Earth would be flooded? Had it ever happened before? No.  Were there meteorologists around back then exclaiming that a tropical vortex would sweep in from the sea, and dump several meters of water in what would have been the "storm of the millennium"? No.  God said it; that was good enough for Noah.)

But after that, he did not panic, and take matters into his own hands.  I think I might have done that.  I like to run around like a headless chicken, wringing my hands and saying, "What shall I do?"  and then doing something stupid.  (I am being facetious--I don't like doing that, but it happens more than you know.)  Noah didn't get ahead of God.  He knew that God was faithful; He would not give us more than we could bear.  God would not warn us of a peril without providing a solution for it. That is God's nature.  Whenever He pricks your conscience, it is not to bring condemnation on you; it is to motivate you to do something different.  Stop living in the suburbs of sinfulness, stop hanging around the outskirts of shame, and start walking with Him.  Noah waited for God's direction, and he followed God's plan to the letter.

God was very specific in his instructions.  The ark was to be so high and so wide and so long, and made with this specific wood, and covered with pitch.  You couldn't follow those directions without breaking a sweat. You couldn't do it without getting your hands dirty. But Noah never threw up his hands and said, "God, it's too much--I quit!"  He didn't take shortcuts that would have endangered the mission of the ark.  He was faithful to God's commands, and God blessed him for it.

The Altar of the Temple
There was another time and place in the Bible where mankind had a need, and God had a plan.  Moses was the point man for the nation of Israel, and God spoke with him directly.  But the people that Moses represented were sinful.  They needed a way to be reconciled with God, or else they would be separated from Him--either in the present world, being like all the other nations who followed gods made with wood or stone, or in the afterlife where they would surely miss His heavenly presence.  So God instituted a system of sacrifices.  These sacrifices could not be done just anywhere.  God commanded that they be done in a Tabernacle--a portable structure that resembled the future Temple in Jerusalem (which, in turn, resembled the altar that is in heaven).  The Tabernacle had all sorts of instructions and measurements, and furnishings, and only certain people could serve in it.  I'm not going to spend time here going into all the requirements of the Tabernacle, but I would like to describe the Altar which God commanded them to build.

Moses, and the priestly tribe of Levi, knew that God was sinless. That separated Him from the people, who were sinful.  God allowed the people to transfer their sins to an animal--a bull, or a sheep--that by the shedding of that animal's blood, the people's sins would be forgiven. "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin." (Hebrews 9:22).

Exodus 27:1-8 gives explicit directions on how to build the ark--what it is to be made of, the dimensions, the decorations, even how it is to be transported.  It served a vital function in the spiritual lives of the Jews, and it required an expert craftsman to construct it according to God's plan.  The craftsman could not take artistic license, and do with the design whatever he wanted to do.  And when putting the altar to its intended use, the priests were commanded to be hands-on.  You could not offer a sacrifice to God without getting it on you.

Now that we live in the New Covenant, where the Blood of the Lamb covers us, and we no longer need a priest to offer a sacrifice for us, we are still called to be hands-on followers of God.  He still has a list of instructions He wants us to keep.  If we mess up, we are forgiven.  But it is because of that very forgiveness, and the blood that was shed to secure it, that we want to follow closely in His footsteps.

The Ark of the Covenant
Again in Exodus, this time in chapter 25, there are explicit directions on how to construct a box, called an ark, that would serve as a memorial of God's precepts, His provision, and His promise for generations.  Inside this box, they were to put the ten commandments, the stone tablets that God had written with His own hand and that Moses presented to the people.  They were to put the rod of Aaron, that grew buds and flowered as a sign to Pharaoh and the magicians in Egypt that God was greater than their gods.  And they were to put a jar of manna, the bread of heaven provided by God for food to them as they wandered in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land.

This memorial was so important that only the priests from the tribe of Levi could carry it.  It was not always kept in the Tabernacle, or the Temple later on.  On more than one occasion it was taken into battle as a token of God's victory.  More than once it was captured by the enemies of God, and placed in heathen temples.  But always it signified  Divine Providence, even when it was misused by people.

How has God shown His promises to you?  How has He provided? Is there a place in your heart dedicated to the memory of those provisions?  Don't ever lose sight of the fulfillment of His promises to you.  Some religions construct shrines as a memorial.  Some wear talismans to keep them from forgetting.  Others carry beads or memory stones, so that they will remember His words as they hold them in their hands.  Hebrews 8:10 says, "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.  I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Let God the Father be your Ark of Noah, keeping you afloat in a world of sin.  Let the Cross of Christ be your Altar of the Tabernacle, a place where you lay down your sins and are covered by the blood, so that your sins will be seen no more.  Let the Holy Spirit write God's laws on your heart, and keep those promises sacred, just like the Ark of the Covenant.