Radical Faith
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.
Has God ever asked you to do something outrageous? Something radical? Something that simply doesn’t make sense from a human standpoint?
You know, that quiet little nudge deep inside somewhere from the Holy Spirit … and you blink, and think to yourself, “That’s nuts! That’s absolutely crazy? How could I possibly ever do that?!”
Imagine for a minute, your name is Noah and you live hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean or lake. Life for you and your family’s not bad – okay a lot of the people out there are corrupt. But there’s nothing new there. It’s always been that way. And one day, you’re tilling your field and God speaks to you.
Noah … build a boat. A big one. 140 metres, 520 feet long. We’re going to call it “an Ark”. There’s a big flood’s coming. A huge flood. Everything is going to be destroyed, but you and your family and two of every animal on the earth …
Well, you know the rest.
So you go home to the little missus, and she asks you – Hey Noah, how was your day? And you reply, Well, you know, God told me to …
What, an ark? 140 metres long? Are you mad? And that’s just your wife! Imagine what your friends are saying about you. The people in the town where you live. They wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Have you heard what crazy old Noah is up to? He’s going to build a massive ship. Out here, in the middle of nowhere, miles from the water? He’s really lost it this time.
But Noah, Noah built the ark anyway. Why?
By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith. (Hebrews 11:7)
He built the ark, because he trusted God. Now, I’m not saying that you should act on every hair-brained idea that comes into your head. That’d be crazy.
But sometimes God asks us to do things that don’t make sense from a human standpoint. Like when God told me to ditch my lucrative consulting career and step out into a ministry that was about to fold.
And when you’ve tested that, and prayed about it, and talked to some trusted advisors about it … when you’ve wrestled with it, lost sleep over it because it’s so crazy, and yet it still persists – you know, you can’t shake it, then what are you going to do?
By faith, Noah … respected the warning and built an ark. By faith.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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