Building Altars vs. Sizing Up The Damage

I love the story of Noah and the Flood. I mean, who wouldn't. There is nothing "ordinary" about this very ordinary man, Noah. Look at him. The Bible says he was a "righteous" man, blameless in his time. Wow! Blameless in his time . . . the kind of fella who did the right things, honored God in the right ways, and wasn't influenced to live, or accept the ways of the world around him. Instead, he swam against tide, persevered in the face of mocking or adversity. God used this unassuming man for the earths greatest "do-over" of all time. There are so many things that can be gleaned from this story. Things like realizing that God has a plan as noted in the very specific plans God gave Noah for building the ark. Or, realizing that with God, there is no retirement age . . . Noah was 600 years old when the floods came upon the earth (Gen. 7:6). Or even that God's plans don't always unfold right away . . . many times there is a lot of perseverance involved . . .150 days of floating with no word, no sign, no action from God (Gen. 7:24).

Oh . . . and there's more . . . much more. But the thought I take from this text today is this "don't size up the damage, until you've built an altar!" What a tremendous reality this is. Noah did a lot of waiting, and waiting, and waiting. He had no ability to steer the boat; in other words, he had no control over his circumstances. He couldn't see the direction he was going. He just had to do what God called him to do, and that was be faithful in the task at hand, and for Noah that was manure management! Then, when God caused the ark to rest on dry ground, there was even more waiting! Finally, God opens the door of the ark and what happens next is so extraordinary! That's heavy on the "extra" ordinary! The ordinary would be to examine the damage of the storm he and his family just survived. The ordinary would be to be upset over being the only ones left on the planet! The ordinary would be to figure out how to continue living in the face of destruction. The ordinary would be to complain, whine, and lash out in anger.

But that is not what the extraordinarily ordinary Noah did. He got out of the ark and built an altar to God. He worshipped God. He took his eyes off of his circumstances and worshipped God. He built an altar, prepared sacrifices and created a worship space in the midst of the aftermath of chaos and storm. Wow! What an incredible thought, eh? I realize that I am too quick to size up my "issues," which only keeps me stuck in manure management! And, manure management doesn't allow me to get outside of myself; my own self pity; my own narrow mindedness; my own judgementalness where God is concerned, and worship the very God who carries me safely through the storms of life.

So, let's build altars of worship, and stop being masters of manure management, shall we?