An excerpt from our book, “Encouragement for Foolish Christians“

Noah crumbled as his body, mind, and heart gave out before the expanse of freshly felled lumber before him.

Years of hard manual labor left his aging body worn. The logistics of an immense project outside his expertise left his tired mind strained. The constant criticism of those around him – and his own thoughts – left his heart on the precipice of hopelessness.

“Make yourself an ark.” When the God he had faithfully served his entire life spoke these words, he went numb. Noah had never built anything like this, especially at such an exaggerated scale; he had never even seen an ark. As his God laid out the blueprint, Noah’s eyes scanned the arid landscape surrounding him. The closest water source was a well in a valley of dirt; a massive ship seemed pointless. What God was describing was beyond his means and profoundly unreasonable, yet that was not the most crushing part: “I am going to put an end to all people.”

How could his Creator even consider such a thing? How did He intend to destroy humanity, and how would an Ark save his family? What would life be like once everyone else was gone?

Noah slammed his eyes shut and clenched his fists as he took deep breaths. He had given up so much to be faithful to God in a time when everyone else did the opposite; in fact, every inclination of their thoughts was only evil all the time. He was committed to a righteous and blameless life, and this seemed a horrendous reward. Not only was it impossible and pointless, he would face ridicule and perhaps persecution for those around him. Why would God ask this of a good man?

His eyes shot open; this might not be God at all. God had never asked something like this of him, and surely He would not want to destroy His creation, His chosen people. No, this had to be the result of spoiled food or excessive heat.

Noah knew this was not true. A lifetime of authentic, deepening relationship had honed his sense of his God’s voice, and though he did not understand this unreasonable call, he knew it was real. It was slight compared to his internal opposition, yet enough to lead him to accept. The prospect of hardship ahead would not quell his commitment to his Creator.

Saying “yes” was hard enough; following through was immensely harder. His family brought the first painful gut-punch; his sons revered their father yet pushed back hard on what they saw as a disastrous endeavor.

“Do you know how expensive this would be? It would ruin us; we’re going to lose everything!”
“We are already the laughingstock of the region because of our faith, this just throws fuel on the pyre.”
“You don’t expect us to take part in this, do you? I have only just gotten married, this will upend my life for years!”

They had every right to oppose and even disavow their father, who was pursuing an objectively foolish commitment; however, just as Noah had an unwavering devotion to his heavenly Father, they had the same for their earthly father. Though none of this made sense and could demand more than they could give, they would not abandon their father. After three hard conversations with three concerned wives, the seven family members took a deep breath and set out to build an ark.

This brought the second, far more painful gut-punch. For a time they worked in secret, and neighbors assumed the sawing and banging was for a home expansion. However, as more lumber was felled, and the frame of something that was not a home took shape, they began to pry.

“Noah, it seems you’ve lost your mind, your house looks nothing like a house. This is what happens when your head is in the clouds with your ‘god’.”

Noah never knew how to respond, though he knew no response would make them more antagonistic.

“My God has called me to a task; I am just being faithful to it.”
“Oh has he? Well, can you have him tell us, because it looks to me like you are building a ship far from water.”

The look on Noah’s face gave away the secret.

The gathering crowd erupted in laughter. “Now that is rich! You have done some crazy things, but this… this is beyond insane!”
Noah’s pride and anger took the reins. “You won’t be laughing when we are saved and you are not from what is to come!” He immediately regretted his words.
“Saved? What is to come? There he is, folks, ‘righteous Noah’, once again better than all of us. And what precisely if to come for us wretches? Hmmm? How is this make-shift boat in the dirt going to save you?”

Noah’s desire for righteousness and grasping for self-preservation grappled with each other as the jeering increased and the mob pressed closer. He knew there was nothing he could say to convince them, because they had never accepted any of the words of God he had shared.

His lack of response angered the men, who began shouting as they toppled stacks of lumber, pried beams off the side of the ark, and cornered Noah and his sons against its side. For weeks after the sons ran that moment through their minds, baffled over why their intimidation never crossed into the physical violence that seemed all but guaranteed.

Noah knew. “My sons, don’t you see? Our God is real. You know we should not have survived that. You have seen some of those very men in that mob kill others in broad daylight. You know what the evil they are capable of doing without hesitation. They are not men of mercy nor compassion, and yet we were spared. Remember how they turned away at the very moment they could have ended us; it was as though they suddenly forgot. Our God is real… which means this mission is as well.”

This, along with more similar moments than they could record, strengthened their resolve to trust and respond to their God’s “unreasonable” project. When fear or fatigue would slow their movement, they would remind themselves – and each other – of who He is, of all He had done, and of the importance of what He was about to do. For all the temptation toward self-preservation, they knew life could not truly exist outside their God.

On good days, they would sing songs of praise and hope as they balanced high atop the bow of the perplexing boat, drawing out the insults shouted from the nearby road. On bad days they could be found crumbled by freshly felled lumber, hands splintered and all but their souls spent. But for their faith in their God, they could not have gone on, but in the most hopeless moments they could almost hear Him whisper, “Yes, this is foolish… but I am no fool.”

As decades passed, they faced moments when it seemed their supplies would run out, or the ark would not take shape; threats continued as the community rebuked them for clearing forests and monopolizing resources. Yet – somehow – none of those moments was the end. After laboring longer than they ever imagined they could, they stepped back to watch the last brush of pitch settle into the grooves of the wood, and saw before them a towering vessel in the dirt.

Noah leaned against one of the support beams, breathing deep as he wondered, “What now…?” God had not revealed the impending disaster, and imagining the possibilities only led to anxiety. Surely the need for an ark involved water, but there was no way this ark could ever make it to even the closest sea, and no sudden spring could budge it.

As heavy as these thoughts were on his heart, they seemed a relief to the upcoming task of gathering animals they had never seen, could never catch, and may very well maul them. Why had their God put something so unimaginably insane on the seven of them? Why could He not have made the ark appear? Why did Noah and his sons have to give up decades of their life with little more to show than callouses and an unusable boat?

What was the point?

Noah could not give a satisfactory answer to any of these questions, other than one: “My God is worthy.” Noah had spent years trying to make sense of a world he saw devolve into unspeakable immorality, and each time he longed for responses to his “why’s”, his soul would hear the whisper, “I Am. Trust me.”

So Noah did, long past his own strength, desire, and capacity, until the last animal was in its stall, the seven adults were on board, and the door was shut. And then… they waited. Seven days passed as they struggled to adjust to their new rustic home, contending with the sounds and smells of animals they did not understand, and berating and banging of people who called them fools.

Amidst the cacophony, they all perceived the dull thud of a single drop of rain hitting the ark.

Based on Genesis 6-9