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Theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”
In this eight-part series we are looking at how God began everything and how God begins again.
Two weeks ago Pastor Lester Zimmerman began telling the story of Noah.
Lester gave a general overview of the Noah story and then provided some practical application points.
Then last week I talked about the corruption that was taking place on the earth which was a backdrop for the flood and the reason for such an extreme act on God’s part.
Today I want to talk about what happened on the other side of the flood.
The book of Genesis gives four chapters to describing this event in detail, so it is appropriate that we should spend several weeks on it.
What is God doing in this story?
The Bible is God’s story of redemption.
You can be sure that any and every story in the Bible has something to do with redemption.
In fact, it will help you to better understand most stories of the Bible if you look for God’s redemption in the story.
And it will also help you in understanding and telling your own story - because God is still redeeming today!
What is redemption?
Redemption relates to deliverance from a situation or from enemies.
Most often, this involves paying a price to “buy back” the person or thing that is being ransomed.
The word most frequently expresses the process of delivering someone from slavery or exchanging a ransom for something that belongs to God, such as a firstborn child in a family.
Redemption is God’s deliverance.
It is release from bondage and captivity.
And it is the restoration of purpose and value.
When we last left Noah and his family, they were saved from the flood.
They are safe inside the ark.
But they are confined to that ark, along with the animals.
Its one thing to be saved, its another thing to be redeemed, released and restored.
Salvation is a new beginning, but it is just the beginning.
To begin again means to follow through and make the most of your new beginning.
Redemption takes time.
We read the story of Noah and the flood in one sitting.
We quickly move from mourning over the loss of so many people and animals to rejoicing that Noah and his family get to leave the ark and make a new start.
We forget the time that passed in between.
It rained for forty days and forty nights.
I get depressed when it rains for a week.
They spent 150 days on the ark until the waters receded.
That’s five months!
I spent 15 hours on a airplane and I get a little stir crazy.
They did it for five months without a movie library!
And then even after they landed, they waited another two months before they could leave the ark.
When I’m on a plane and it lands, people are getting up and standing in the aisles with their luggage - nobody wants to wait to disembark!
But I find in God’s redemption story, that a lot of time is spent waiting.
Redemption takes time.
As Miracle Max says, “You rush a miracle and you get lousy miracles!”
Oh, but none of us likes the waiting part!
So what are some things that we can learn from the story of Noah to help us with the waiting?
Always know that God’s Spirit is moving.
God remembered Noah.
The truth is that God never forgot about Noah, but the fact that something is happening reassures Noah that God remembers him.
So what is happening?
There’s a wind blowing.
So what?
Well after forty days of nothing but rain, a wind is a pretty big change.
How does that tell you that God remembers you?
Wind, breath and Spirit are all the same in Hebrew.
The wind reminds us of the Spirit of God hovering over the water at creation.
It reminds us of the breath of God the gives us life.
God is brooding over the waters again.
God is breathing life again.
God is moving again.
When Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, it was signaled by the sound of wind.
The disciples, like Noah and his family were simply waiting.
The sound of the wind signaled movement.
God was doing something new.
The Spirit is moving.
You may be in a place of waiting on God for something to happen, but pay attention to the wind.
God’s Spirit is always moving.
God is always working, even in our waiting.
It may seem like it is just wind, but be encouraged because what you are sensing is movement!
God is parting the waters, driving back the seas and making a way for His redemption.
But it may still take time, so what do you do while you are waiting?
Celebrate the milestones on your journey.
So after forty days the sound of rain changes to the sound of wind.
I’m sure after several months the sound of wind was getting old.
“We have listened to this wind soundtrack for months.
Is there anything else on?
How about a giant “scrape” or a “bump!”
That’s the sound of the bottom of the boat making contact with land.
Make a note of what day it is, because something just changed.
Its the day we stopped rocking in the waves and came to rest.
It the day we felt something that we haven’t felt for a very long time - solid ground beneath us.
As you are on your journey of redemption, make note of the changes.
Make note of the first day when you are not feeling discouraged or the first day without a headache and celebrate it.
Make note of the morning that you wake up and do not feel the usual pain and thank God for healing.
Make note of the first time that someone notices you or does something thoughtful and praise God for restoring relationships.
God is working in your situation; celebrate the milestones because they are an indication that God is doing something new.
Your healing is on its way.
Your recovery is in the making.
God is restoring relationships and if you can see it, you can also receive it.
Did everything change at that moment?
No.
But something changed at that moment which was an indication of things to come.
Hang in there!
It will be just a little while longer...
Move when God says so.
It’s New Years Day.
You are 601 years old.
You have been waiting ten and a half months to be able to leave the ark.
You make a whole in the roof to get a better view of the landscape.
You see what looks like mostly dry ground.
“Mostly dry” except for swampy quicksand pits where the surface is dry but underneath, the soils are still unstable.
Do you get out of the boat?
Not until God says.
If God gives you a direction, you do it until God gives a different direction.
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