Monday, February 11, 2008

Details...Details

Have you all ever seen the movie Evan Almighty? I really enjoyed it; thought it gave us a pretty good look at what happened to Noah back in the day.

Can you imagine, walking out your front door one morning, and your neighbor is building some huge ( and I do mean huge) thing in their yard. This thing is so big it's gonna take a long time to build. Talk about property value going down!

Can you imagine the torment the people put on Noah for building the ark? What a crazy man, they thought. But, aahhhh no, he was not crazy in the least. He was a man of great faith. A man that listened to God when he spoke. He listened to every detail, in fact.

Genesis 6: 13-16
13So God said to Noah,"I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.16 Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks."

Noah made the ark exactly as God had instructed.

How many times do we leave out some of the details because we think that they couldn't possibly mean all that much? What if Noah hadn't listened to the details? Where would we be now?

Now, I am a detail kinda girl myself. My details are very important to me. But too often I leave out one of God's details here, and maybe a certain detail there.....and it has literally brought me ruin.

Genesis 6:17-21
God said to Noah-
17"I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all lif under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will parish. 18But I will establish my covenent with you, and you will enter the ark- you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 19You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21You are to take evry kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."

Again, look at all the details. How could Noah possibly misunderstand? He didn't.

Genesis 6:22 (italics mine)
Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Noah followed everything out. After the waters came for 40 days and 40 nights and flooded the earth and everything in it, the only things that didn't parish were Noah, his family, and two of every kind of animal. Why?

Well, because....


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

Noah's actions gave man no excuse to not follow through with their faith. He had what I would call, a crazy faith.

I can't imagine the adventures God will take me on as I pray to have this same kind of faith. Won't you please join me? I just know it's going to be fun!

Now, I'm not saying I'm going to go build an ark in my yard....unless he asks, of course. :) But let's all pray to have the faith of Noah. The kind of faith that can move mountains.....the kind of faith that will build an ark if God asks; knowing all the while to listen to the details, because sometimes the littlest detail can make all the difference.

God wants us to demonstrate our faith like Noah did.

James 2:26
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

5 comments:

Carol said...

Amen! I pray for that faith in my life. Lord, let me be as detail oriented about what you say as I am about the clothes needing to hang color coordinated in my closet in the order of the rainbow.

Cheri said...

Carol,
You are CRAZY!! I just love it!

DeAnna said...

It's all in the details - isn't it? A constant, everyday, dying to self belief that God is going to do what He says that He will do.

Kimberly said...

Hi!
I came by here much earlier today, was in the middle of posting a comment, and then one of my little people came in the room....and well, now it is 7:30!
Such a good post! I talk to my girls so often about obedience, but I need to work on MY total obedience to God! Hmmmm....maybe if I dealt with my obedience issues then they would be more obedient. :)

Amy Wyatt said...

I'm so glad God is into details. He made me that way too. I just need to be sure I'm worrying more about His details than mine. Thanks for the reminder.