Time Won’t Give Me Time

See then that you walk carefully, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is (Ephesians 5:15-17)

Noah had 120 years to build the ark. During those years of construction, Noah’s 3 sons were born and he became a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). Yet the people around Noah were too busy with their daily lives to care what God was doing. The common, ordinary interests of daily life kept them from following the will of God. They had been deceived by the material things of this world into complacency and idleness toward the things of God.

There were plenty of good reasons not to take God’s warnings seriously. “I’m not a sinner,” “God won’t judge sin,” or “I have plenty of time to get right with God.” But the ungodly were all swept away in judgment.

Even as Noah, his family, and the animals entered the ark, it wasn’t until faced with death in the flood that people understood it was too late (Matthew 24:39).

Death stands at the door of every life, but few are prepared when God opens that door.

Pounding and Peace

The darkness of my first night settles, but the pounding continues. I’ve heard constant pounding for so very long, more years than I can remember.

The pounding of the hammer has changed my body. My hands are thick with calluses, my skin darkened by the sun, and my arms more muscled than in my youth. The change would not have been so dramatic if I’d had more help. Though the work ended just over a week ago, I still hear that bang! bang! bang! that shakes and rattles even my bones.

Through the pounding of the hammer God spoke to me of a coming miraculous sign. I was uncertain, but when the animals approached I knew it was Him who spoke. Animals of every sort, more than I could count, more than I could describe came to me. And still the pounding. The pounding of hooves and feet, marching, clopping, banging.

Today the pounding continued, but not the banging of hammer against nail or hoof against floorboards. Today was the pounding of raindrops against this great vessel my sons and I have spent our lives building. Once my family entered, the hand of God closed the door behind us and the rains began pounding against the ark so hard and fast that the boat was lifted from the ground. It would have been amazing to see the work of my hands finally float, except for what came next.

After an hour or two, the pounding of rain was drown out by the pounding of fists. For decades I’d been warning everyone that He was going to judge the world for its sin. Awful, terrible things, many I’ve only heard about, but things so bad I can’t even mention. Still the warnings went unheard.

Knowing what was coming didn’t prepare me for hearing my friends and family, neighbors and strangers, screaming to be let into this ark of safety. First the voices were mostly friendly, then the banging and shouting turned angry, then panicked. Slowly, as the pounding rains raged harder and harder against the boat, the pounding of the fists and the damning voices vanished into silence. If only they’d listened. If only they had believed.

So here in my bed, with the dim light of a candle, the pounding of the winds and rains continue. God said this will last only 40 days and 40 nights. That means 39 to go. I have no idea what I’m going to find when this is over. I can’t begin to imagine, but I hope . . . no . . . I pray to the Just God of the universe, that one day the pounding will stop and I’ll find peace.

Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark (Genesis 8:1).

More Time and Another Sign

God did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly (2 Peter 2:5).

The Apostle Peter described Noah as a preacher of righteousness. While Noah and his sons worked tirelessly to build the ark, Noah took every opportunity to preach to the crowds that must have gathered to view “Noah’s Folly.” Yet when all was said and done, only 8 souls were saved. Imagine: Eight converts after 120 years of preaching. [By today’s number-driven churches, Noah was an utter failure!]

Today we think: If God just gave my son a little more time he’d believe. Or … If He sent my wife a better preacher, a bigger miracle, a more profound sign, even a dead person come back to life, then she couldn’t help but follow after Jesus.

The Jewish leaders demanded just “one more sign” from Jesus and then they’d believe His claims. His reply was a strong slap in the face to everyone who thinks that God hasn’t already done enough to bring sinful men and women to Himself:

An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:39-40).

In Romans 1:6, Paul wrote that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.This “sign of the prophet Jonah” – Christ’s resurrection – is the greatest and most powerful definitive sign given from Heaven to prove the claims and identity of Jesus. If after 2,000 years of telling it, the Easter story isn’t big enough to bring someone to faith, nothing else will.