Noah, Easter, and Learning to Trust

The story of Noah is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. In fact, even people who don’t claim to be followers of Jesus likely have a knowledge of Noah and the ark. Perhaps it’s because of all the children’s songs about this historical event, or the number of baby nurseries decorated with this theme, or even the number of documentaries made about this incredible part of scripture.

I wonder, what was it like on the ark for several months, almost a year? What was the attitude of Noah’s wife, his sons, and his daughters-in-law? Were they cooperative and compliant or were they grouchy and complaining? And good grief, how did they deal with the smell from all those animals (and to be honest, humans too — because we know they started to stink also!)?

Digging deeper, how did Noah trust so fully in God’s promise to save his family when he’d likely never even seen rain? He lived in a desert, so it’s quite possible he had never experienced water falling from the sky. To make a loose comparison, it’d be similar to someone in Orlando building a large igloo for a coming snowstorm. It just doesn’t happen in this part of the world, and rain was just as rare in Noah’s land.

While many circumstances are different, I do find kinship with Noah during this season of staying home. While I have the luxuries of internet, social media, online worship, the freedom to walk outside, air-conditioning, grocery delivery and more, I am confined to one specific space to protect the well-being and future health of my family. Like Noah, I do not know when this will end. While God did tell Noah that it would rain for forty days and forty nights, He did not promise that his duration on the ark would be limited to that same time period. In fact, we see in Scripture that waiting for the waters to recede took 150 days after the forty days of rain. Noah was certainly on the ark for much longer than the forty days of the storm, and I imagine his patience and the patience of his family members was pretty thin by the end of it all.

But Noah trusted and obeyed God. Noah’s story in Genesis says more than once that “Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him” (Genesis 6:22, 7:5, 7:9, 7:16). Noah trusted and obeyed God with his entire life, and the lives of his loved ones. He didn’t know how or when the flood would end — but he trusted in God.

As we approach this Resurrection Sunday, everything looks different. Like Noah, we’re in a space we can’t leave, and we don’t know how this is going to end. And to be honest, things may have started to really stink.

But this we do know: God remembered Noah. God was faithful. He placed a rainbow in the sky to display the glorious colors of His never-ending promises. God’s covenant was both with Noah and all future generations — including the generation of Joseph, who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.

He saved Noah and his family from physical death with a wooden boat, and this weekend, we celebrate being saved from spiritual death by Jesus’ sacrifice on a wooden cross. Even though our storm isn’t over and our floodwaters have yet to recede, we can rejoice that we know the end of the story — He is risen, He has conquered death, and through Him, we celebrate the hope we have in Jesus Christ.