Against the Tide

One of the first Bible stories I read as a young Christian was Noah’s Ark. The fascination I had for this story, at times bordered on incredulity. When you are 13, anything beyond the age of 50 is ancient in my mind. Serious. So there I was reading about this Noah dude who was 480 years old being summoned by God to build an Ark greater than the length of football field and taller than the clock tower on the main thoroughfare of Sungei Petani, a small obscure town where I spent the better part of my primary school days. Noah had no modern tools to aid in the building of the Ark but God gave him specific instructions on just how to do so down to water proofing the Ark with pitch – a tar like substance. Into this Ark, once it’s finished, Noah was to house a pair of all animals on the earth – for breeding purposes, animals for consumption, animals for offerings plus Noah’s wife and his three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives. I am reading all this in Genesis, and I remember actually saying out loud, “Whoa, this can’t be right!” The guy is 480 years old and he is supposed to run around chasing all kinds of animals into the Ark and then keep them under lock and key for the next one year while the Ark supposedly floats above the floods? And before Noah even gets to chase the animals into the Ark, I find out that it took him 120 years to actually build the Ark! So that makes Noah 600 years old when he finished building the Ark. Noah’s story was beginning to read like one mega fantasy.

But fantasy it was not. If anything, Noah and his Ark show just how far God was willing to go to purge the sins that were corrupting the earth at the time and to cleanse mankind of the wickedness that prevailled every corners of the earth. God chose Noah because he was righteous and blameless in God’s eyes and while the task of building the Ark was by far easy, God knew Noah would not let him down. As a young Christian, I was caught up with the fact that it took Noah 120 years to build the Ark and failed to see that during those 120 years when Noah laboured and toiled, God was also giving men and women of the earth a chance to repent of their sins. But they never did so God caused rain to fall upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights and it was close to one year before Noah and his family were able to step onto dry grounds again.

Noah’s story is all about living for God in a godless world. It’s about obeying God’s command without questioning and seeing the whole project through (Gen 6:22). It’s about persevering and not allowing mockery, temptation or judgement clouding the bigger picture at hand. It’s about living and acknowledging that God’s plan and purpose for your life will never harm you (Jer 11 refers). It’s about faith, in believing what to hope for and being certain of what has not yet been seen (Hebrews 11). It’s about going against the tide and walking with God when the rest of the world is walking out.

Have you ever seen a documentary on the life cycle of Pacific salmon? The young salmon spend the first part of their lives in the streams where they hatched, moving to salt water some months later. They then spend a period of several years growing to adulthood in the food-rich waters of the Pacific Ocean. When their time comes, they are called back to the streams where they were born. Their voyage home is nothing less than epic, across thousands of kilometres of ocean. Guided largely by smell, they return to their natal streams, some along the coast, and some far inland along major river systems.

Their bodies now brightly coloured and distorted as they prepare for spawning, they battle their way past riffles and chutes, until they arrive at a familiar stretch of riverbed. Here, the males battle for the right to fertilize the females, and the females batter their bodies as they dig redds in the gravel in preparation for egg-laying. When they are spent, their carcasses lie rotting along the riverbanks, providing food for scavenging birds and mammals, and cycling nutrients back into the ecosystem. In time, the eggs hatch, and a new generation of tiny salmon begins the cycle again.

Salmon is derived from a Latin word “salmo” meaning leaper. Salmon swims upstream towards shallow waters in order to spawn and in the course of doing so, they must at times, jump or leap over small waterfall. When salmon are ready to spawn, their eating quality has severely degraded and yet their bodies undergo remArkable physical endurance in going against the tide in propagating their own species. They know what the end result is and they know what needs to be done in order for the end result to be achieved.

True Christians living a God filled life is not that much different from that of salmon spawning for the next generation. The current of temptation and sin is a strong one and once succumbed, we are pushed further along the river than where we should really be. Living a Christian life is never a straight road; it’s a path strewn of hurdles unimaginable and it is through God’s grace and strength that we pull through. At times, it requires us to embrace a leap of faith and boldness even when we do not know whether the road ahead is better traveled. The thing is God doesn’t tell us directly how long we have to live on earth but He demands that however long we call earth our home is the length of time we are to faithfully obey and serve Him. We are to help “spawn” for the next generation by fulfilling the Great Commission but our treasures are not here on earth rather they are stored up in heavens above. It’s a simple commandment but one which is fraught with practical difficulties that the secular world throws at us and which we can only overcome if we call on to God in obedience and faith. I will be the first to admit just how hard it truly is.

Noah’s story is an encouragement to us that God will not forsake us and that His way is the truth, the way and the life. The lessons from his story can be summarized as follows:

1. Do not miss the boat (ie. God’s calling upon your life);
2. Remember that we are all in the same boat (obstacles are there to ground us in our faith);
3. Plan ahead (know God’s desired outcome);
4. Stay fit (When you are 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big;
5. Do not listen to critics, just get the job done (the favour you seek is from God, and God alone);
6. Build your future on high ground;
7. For safety sake - travel in pairs (be accountable to one another);
8. Speed is not always an advantage, the snails were on board with the cheetahs (all in God’s timing, not ours – re: Ecc 3);
9. When you are stressed, float a while. If you cannot fight or flee……float! (sometimes you need to be like Mary and just wait upon the Lord);
10. Remember the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic was built by professionals. (God will give you the right tools in order for you to live in accordance to His will and purpose for your life)
11. No matter what the storm is, when you are with God there is always a rainbow waiting;
12. Be nice to each other….we may end up in the same boat!

Obedience in God is a life long commitment. Be still and listen to the voice of God. Seek Him first and all things will be added unto you. Honour Him and granted, your life will be a powerful testimony to all those around you. We are all on this journey together and be assured God sees when you labour, toil and serve His people. So continue pushing on and be open to what God has in store for you.