Is God even real? If he is, does he care how I live? How could God make my life better? This story has all the answers to these questions and more.
It's not an easy story to take in, but it's an important story and—unlike the people going about their business in Noah's day—we'd better know this story and live like it's true.
Guest: Rebecca George
Bible Passage: Genesis 6-7
Get your Freebie: The Live Like It's True Workbook
Mentioned Resources
Shaped by God's Promises: Lessons from Sarah on Fear and Faith
{buy now}
Comparison Girl for Teens
{buy now}
Get our free "Pray God's Promises" prayer guide.
Go to Shannonpopkin.com/PROMISES/ for more information on my neww Bible study, Shaped by God’s Promises: Lessons from Sarah on Fear and Faith.
Visit ResoundMedia.cc for the Live Leadership Podcast, along with other Gospel centered resources.
Is God even real? If he is, does he care how I live? How could God make my life better? This story has all the answers to these questions and more.
It's not an easy story to take in, but it's an important story and—unlike the people going about their business in Noah's day—we'd better know this story and live like it's true.
Guest: Rebecca George
Bible Passage: Genesis 6-7
Get your Freebie: The Live Like It's True Workbook
Mentioned Resources
Shaped by God's Promises: Lessons from Sarah on Fear and Faith
{buy now}
Comparison Girl for Teens
{buy now}
Get our free "Pray God's Promises" prayer guide.
Go to Shannonpopkin.com/PROMISES/ for more information on my neww Bible study, Shaped by God’s Promises: Lessons from Sarah on Fear and Faith.
Visit ResoundMedia.cc for the Live Leadership Podcast, along with other Gospel centered resources.
We're coming back this fall with another standout series where I'm letting my guests pick the Bible story that we'll be looking at. So we've got seven or eight episodes for you that are sort of standalone. And today we have a special treat we have Rebecca George with us. Rebecca is the founder of Radical Radiance, a podcast community where listeners are equipped to blend what they love with the Jesus who makes them shine. She is a podcaster, speaker and author whose greatest joy in life is discipling others to pursue their passions in a way that builds the kingdom. Rebecca and I are going to talk about the story of Noah building the ark and further on in the episode I'm going to refer to this quote by Dane Ortlund, but first of all, I forgot his first name and, second, I don't think I did justice to the quote.
Shannon :It's such a good quote so I wanted to share it with you right here at the beginning of the episode. This is a heavy story. It's a difficult story to engage, but I think this quote from Dane will lay a nice foundation for our conversation. So he's talking about the phrase slow to anger and, like we've talked about before on this podcast repeatedly, the Hebrew language is an economy language. It uses fewer words with lots more concrete language, and so he's just talked about how this phrase slow to anger it means long of nostrils and it's like the picture of an angry bull like with his nostrils flaring, and he's saying that's not how God is. He doesn't have his finger on the trigger. It takes more provoking to draw out his anger. And so here's what Dane says.
Shannon :I'm going to read from him here we are often like emotional dams ready to break, but God can put up with a lot. This is why the Old Testament speaks of God being provoked to anger by his people dozens of times, but not once are we told that God is provoked to love or provoked to mercy. His anger requires provocation. His mercy is pent up, ready to gush forth. We tend to think that divine anger is pent up, spring loaded. Divine mercy is slow to build up, but it's just the opposite. Divine mercy is ready to burst forth at the slightest prick. That's Dane Ortland from Gentle and Lowly, and I love that contrast, because in this story we're going to see God's wrath gushing forth. The water is going to spring up from the depths. But I want you to keep in mind that it takes a lot to provoke God to anger. But what's ready, what's pent up, what's spring loaded, is his mercy. So let's jump into our conversation today with Rebecca George about the story of Noah's Fun. Rebecca George, welcome to Live Like it's True.
Rebecca:Oh, Shannon, I'm so happy to be with you. Thank you for having me today.
Shannon :So now tell us about your new book that just came out a few months ago.
Rebecca:Yeah, that's really kind of you to ask. So it is called Do the Thing Gospel-Centered Goals, gumpion and Grace for the Go-Getter Girl, and similar to what you just kind of rattled off in a professional bio. My heart for it really is to just have conversation. That points us back to what does God's word say about our calling? How do we see our work from a Gospel-Centered perspective? I think you would probably agree, shannon. In the last decade or so, we've just seen a lot of narratives come to the surface that are very contradictory to what God says about our work and our calling and how we steward that well the side of heaven. And so I really not just for my readers, but for me I wrote this book for, like the Rebecca that needed this 10 years ago of.
Rebecca:How do we see that rightly. So I'm super excited about how God's using it.
Shannon :And that so aligns with our purpose here on this podcast. How can we live like the true story is true?
Rebecca:How can?
Shannon :we reject these false narratives. So you're really focusing in, though, in this book, on our work, our calling, our passions. Yes.
Rebecca:Yes, yes.
Shannon :And especially for the Go-Getter Girl. I am a Go-Getter Girl.
Rebecca:Me too, shannon, me too.
Shannon :So we're going to talk about a story today where there was a Go-Getter guy who got a big task done. We're going to talk about the story of Noah and I got to ask you Rebecca, now you're way younger than me, how old are you? I'm 31. Next, Wednesday Okay so you are about 20 years younger than me, so this may completely be irrelevant, but when my kids were babies, people were decorating their nurseries in like Noah's Ark theme. Yes, is that still a thing you?
Rebecca:would know more than me. I do think that when my generation was growing up, that was a common theme, whether it be Noah's Ark, peter Rabbit was was mine.
Shannon :So I was kind of that generation of those things.
Shannon :So anyway, yeah, we had Peter Rabbit too, and no judgment if you, you know, decorated your your nursery two by two or you had that as a baby. I mean, I think it's kind of cute that the animals came in the Ark two by two, right. But as I'm reading this story fresh, it's giving me pause. You know, I'm reflecting on COVID and how many deaths there were, and like, would you decorate your nursery with COVID, covid graphics, like the spike protein? You know, I've seen some graphics of that I don't want to decorate, I know.
Rebecca:No, yeah, and there's some stories that like feel really big in scripture, right, if we think about Gideon or we think about Nehemiah rebuilding the wall Jerusalem, we think about Noah and the destruction of mankind, right, exactly.
Rebecca:And we, and it's such an important story in scripture and if we think about the whole narrative and God's overall plan of redemption that we are now a part of that, he's still working together. This is so important and it's not an easy story. Yeah, that's what I kept thinking about too. I think we had the same kind of moment as we were reflecting on this.
Shannon :This is a grave story, like I feel like there should be serious music in the background.
Rebecca:Yeah.
Shannon :Like it's, it's not. I mean, it is inspiring and in a particular way it takes a lot of real estate in our in our Bibles. I was kind of surprised by that. Genesis six through seven, so we'll read parts of it. We want you to open your Bible and get into the whole detailed story, but we'll look, we'll do a flyover and look at some key points in the story. So, rebecca, can you read Genesis six, five through nine?
Rebecca:I would love to the Lord, saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I'm sorry that I have made them, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons Shem Ham and Japheth.
Shannon :Okay, thank you so much. So yeah, we're right in the beginning of our Bibles here. Genesis six I mean we're just opening up and Genesis one. We saw God was saying it was good, it was good, it was good. So this is a huge contrast when God is saying the Lord saw the wickedness of man. He saw things were not good. It's this great wickedness that has spread. One of the surprising things in this text is that everyone was corrupt. Like how could everyone be corrupt? Six chapters in the whole world has forgotten about God. Like how can that be? So what's surprising here, about just the state of things and what's happening here in this?
Rebecca:story, verse six really stuck out to me and the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart. And I went back, just as I was studying the passage, to look at the original language of what that word regretted would have meant, and I found that it would have meant that he was sorry, that he was moved to pity, that he had compassion. This isn't in contradiction to his character and we know about God that he is perfectly just, he is perfectly holy. These verses in particular show just his displeasure over sin, how it grieves his heart, and this isn't in contradiction to the fact that he is this is a big word not explained at his immutability, the fact that he doesn't change.
Rebecca:And so I think there's this tension that we hold in a broken world that we find ourselves in this side of heaven, that he's perfectly just, he's perfectly holy. He has this displeasure and grief over sin and those things are working together in a way that I don't know. That I perfectly understand. But we get to praise God for his character and the fact that he doesn't change, and I love that we can lay some of these harder truths about the Lord against one another and the fact that he's immutable. We can stand on that foundation even in our lives today. I don't know how that resonates with you, but those qualities about God all of that was on my mind as I was reading.
Shannon :Those are really great thoughts. I think each generation maybe tends to focus on one part of God's character and maybe you know crop out the rest. Yeah Right, there were some generations that really focused on God's justice and his holiness. Our generation maybe tends to focus more on God's kindness, and you know God accepts everyone, God loves everyone, and you know both are true. God is loving, God is just. Can you read again that definition that you said for God regretted Yep.
Rebecca:It says he was sorry, he was moved to pity and he had compassion.
Shannon :Wow, I mean, all of those are just, oh, they just upturned ick, you know, in my heart I know. These are God's image bearers, you know back in.
Shannon :Genesis, chapter one. God created man in his image and we were intended to spread God's beauty, his glory, across the face of the earth. And God is looking at these image bearers saying I'm gonna blot him out. You know, man is no longer imaging God. And now this is anthropomorphism. Did I say that right? Anthropomorphism, where it's like we're attributing human characteristics to God. You know, god does not have a heart, that's right. He's not human, but it's intended to help us understand who God is and we're getting God's view. I think that's interesting too. I'm picturing him looking down on the face of the earth and seeing the state of things and then look at the contrast though verse eight. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Like there's this huge contrast. Noah found favor, he was a righteous man, and also that word favor is also translated grace. So Noah found grace.
Shannon :I love, that Grace of the Lord, right. And then it says he was righteous. So I think it's interesting that the placement of those like the one comes before the other. God gave him grace and he was righteous. So Noah didn't catch God's eye, God caught Noah's heart.
Rebecca:Oh, that's so good.
Shannon :Right, and so God poured his grace on this man. So any of us who do live a righteous life in the midst of those who don't, it's only because God's grace and we've got to hold on to that right?
Rebecca:Yeah, absolutely. And there's a phrase that has been. One time when he preached on grace, he used this phrase grace is only amazing if you're not. Right and so when we think about this concept of grace, it rolls downhill right, like God extends that grace to us and we're so undeserving. But it's that thing that's extended to us in our brokenness, right. And so, even in Noah's brokenness, I did see him and extend that grace, that favor, and considered him, saw that he was righteous.
Shannon :I think it's key. It says right after that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. Many years of walking with God is what prepares us to do these big assignments that God has.
Rebecca:That's right.
Shannon :He's not going to ask someone who has not walked with him to do something that would stand. So, apart from their culture, you know, the Middle East is much more of a collective culture. In the West we think far more individualistically. So. I've said this many times in this podcast, but my friend from the Middle East shared that. If you ask someone in the Middle East, how did Adam and Eve sin? If you ask us, we would say, well, they ate the fruit. If you ask someone in the Middle, East what?
Shannon :did they do? They would say well, they stopped walking and talking with God.
Shannon :It's because it's this collective culture, and they're so in tune with how you're influenced by those you walk with, and so the fact that Noah walked with God, that just tells us something he was influenced by God, he was communing with God, he was being taught and influenced by who God was, not who the culture was. And I think, man, that's just a good word for us. Today. We've got to be people who are walking with God, and you're right, he's about to get a big assignment here. So, yeah, let's see. Could you read verses 11 through 19? Sure.
Rebecca:Now, the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch, for, behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your sons' wives with you.
Shannon :Okay, and then God's going to go on and give some direction about the animals and how there should be two by two. He also gave details about the ark. For our purposes it's 450 feet by 75 feet by 45 feet high, so this is a big boat. He's giving the instructions.
Rebecca:Big boat.
Shannon :Build this boat. Here's what you do with the animal. But I love this verse that kind of wraps it up. Verse 22,. Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him. Like he did it. So what's surprising about that, Rebecca?
Rebecca:Yeah, well, I read through Hebrews 11, and I'm going to read verse seven for us. So, hall of Faith chapter, right, and it does talk about knowing that chapter, and there was a tidbit that I kind of clung onto there. It says, and this is in the ESV as well by faith, noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. And so, as I was reflecting on all of this, the specificity of instruction that the Lord gave him and this big assignment, those words reverent fear that it talks about in Hebrews 11, really stuck out to me. Right, that he was obedient to all that the Lord had commanded him, and that deeply challenges me, which we can talk about more in a minute, but just to remember that he was also human and I think we can read.
Rebecca:Noah's story and sometimes just think it's like this fable of a story, but this was actually a part of God's story for us, right? And so keeping all that into perspective is you read that those dimensions, and we context that into what that would be for us today to remember that Noah's faithful in reverent fear? That just really sticks out to me. I don't know, as I say that, what bubbles up for you.
Shannon :Reverent fear. That's like he's not just getting the hammer nails like, oh my goodness, here we go. You know, I have been doing this for so long, working on this big old boat. I don't understand. No, he's reverent. It's reverent, he's putting God in the position that God deserves. And it's fear, and I mean. I think fear means fear, right.
Rebecca:Me too.
Shannon :God has told him there is a coming judgment and he, in fear, is setting his agenda for the day. He's going to pick up those hammer nails. He's going to do this work according to God's specificity, out of reverent fear. I think all of us should, to some extent, live our lives according to reverent fear. Yeah, yeah.
Rebecca:And as I read that verse two, so verse 22, noah did this. He did all that God commanded him. There are words that we use in the Christianese language that I think feel a little hard to define, and I think one of them is faith, and so I was thinking about Noah's faith, as he was obedient to this assignment that the Lord gave him, and the way that has been has defined faith, I think, has been really helpful to me, and it's this idea that we receive a report from God, so we are in tune with the Lord, we're walking with the Lord, as we see that Noah did, and we respond accordingly. We respond in the right way, and so we see that happen with Noah. He received the report from God, he did all that God commanded him and he responded in the right way. That just deeply challenges me, shannon, as I am walking with the Lord and he puts an assignment on my heart and I'm acting in reverent fear. I pray that that same is true in my life you know?
Shannon :Yeah, absolutely. Faith is an interesting word in the Hebrew. The way we use the word faith, we're often just its head headspace. You know it's what we believe, but the Hebrew person never disconnected the faith from the action. I mean, just look at Hebrews 11. It's like, by faith, this person did that. By faith that person it's actions.
Rebecca:That's right.
Shannon :By faith. Noah built this boat right. That's what he did. It was out of faith. It was in response to what God had said was going to happen. We have in the overarching story, where we are on the timeline, jesus has come to save us and we, in faith, look back at what Jesus has done, but we also live accordingly. We do things out of faith. Our life is shaped in obedience. I think it's interesting. Four different times in this passage it says that Noah obeyed. Can you read the 22 one?
Rebecca:I can. That's chapter 6, verse 22. Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him.
Shannon :Right. Then in verse 5 of 7, it says and Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. And then in verse 9, with Noah as God had commanded Noah. And then down in 16, they went in as God had commanded him in the Lord's judgment. So it's repeatedly. We're meant to notice this Noah is obeying, he's obeying, he's obeying. Another thing that I thought was interesting about this passage is it doesn't really talk about the other people who didn't obey. I actually, when I got to work studying this passage, I went looking for that part where all the people are banging on the ark saying let us in. It's not there.
Rebecca:I don't see it.
Shannon :I was like man, I feel like I've told that to kids, told that in Sunday school, but I guess I imagined that I remember being at the Creation Museum and there's this little model and it's showing the mountains and the ark is rising and it shows people clinging to the top of mountains. I think that's in my head, though it's not in the text.
Rebecca:I think that's very interesting but that's not in the text.
Shannon :I see something, too, in that this story doesn't reflect on all of those people outside the ark. Spotlight is on the ones who entered the ark, and I think that's God. His focus is on his people, whom he has saved through the blood of Jesus and will bring with him into eternity. That's his main focus.
Rebecca:I totally agree, and there's also so you were reflecting on that and what I was reflecting on was Noah's wife. As a somewhat newly married gal and again, we can't be dogmatic where the Bible isn't explicit we don't hear a lot about Noah's wife, we don't hear a lot about those who did not obey, but man just seeing Noah's faithfulness and his reverent fear as he constructed the ark and following through with us, and we see that Noah's family, including his wife and his children, joined him on the ark, and I was challenged by that too, just wondering about her right, Because being also married to a man who has a big calling as a pastor and following him in obedience wherever he leads us to go, which has been quite a journey in the first four years of our marriage I was just challenged and encouraged to think Noah's wife we only see those glimpses of it that she joined him in the ark, but I just couldn't help but think about her too.
Shannon :Well, and the rest of the sense I had that thought too, like we're all seven of them like faithful followers.
Rebecca:You don't know but definitely what we do know is that Noah's faith influenced them.
Shannon :I mean definitely saved their lives right, and we have to keep that in mind, that our faith does influence those around us. The other thing I think is interesting is like Is Noah the hero in this story? Like is he the hero of the biblical narrative? Well, no, because if you read to the end of the story, you find Noah planting a vineyard, eating from the grapes, getting drunk and getting naked in his tent, and it's like, it's a shameful scene and there are definite parallels between Adam and Eve eating fruit, getting naked and feeling shame. So I think what we're meant to see is no, this is not the one we've been waiting for. This is not the savior Right.
Shannon :The point is not be like Noah and you will be safe, like be obedient, and I mean I don't know if you've interviewed Ginger Duggar. She was. You know the Duggar family was like the reality show 19 Kids and Counting, I think it was called in Just a very, very conservative family that you know. They were Christians. Mr Duggar was a state representative. They lived this really wholesome life. But Ginger's recently written a book just about her experience of legalism and how that's just been hard. It's like this emphasis on what we do versus getting away from. You know who God is and what he has said in his word, and there's just there's a danger in that.
Rebecca:I've been very encouraged by her this year. I would love to talk about more of her story and I'll in brief say we were raised in different church denominations. I think they were similar in the sense of just legalism that was present, and I just have been so encouraged by hearing more of her story and how she has kind of walked through linking to scripture, like the truth that we find in scripture, not what we add.
Shannon :I listened to a couple of interviews by her and I also went to, like, the Bill Gothard Institute or whatever. I watched that documentary Shiny Happy People and I'm like, oh my word I remember those umbrellas.
Rebecca:I don't.
Shannon :I didn't, you know, didn't necessarily live by the umbrellas, but I think what's interesting is what we're looking back and reflecting on is like obedience was emphasized yes, absolutely obedience, but it was kind of disconnected from the word of God. I recently listened to this episode on family life by Dean Incerra. Dean was the guest and he's talking about purity culture which you know, that was kind of wrapped up in this whole era, legalism and in the church, and I thought it was such an interesting point that he made. He's like I feel like the point of purity culture was don't have sex, like if you don't have sex you'll be good, but he said what is interesting is it was disconnected from God's view of sexuality, God's good design for sex. He's like I believe in heaven and hell and I think there are people who are in hell, who saved themselves from marriage, who lived as virgins.
Shannon :The point is not to be good and obey. The point is we need a savior and we have to obey God's way. His design for us to be saved Like Noah is not. It's not be like Noah and you'll be saved. It's like obey God, who has made a way for you to be saved.
Rebecca:Yeah, and the thing that I think, as I listened to Ginger's story and as I've kind of worked through some of that legalism in my own life with Jenna we've both kind of commiserated on I think the thing that the Lord has done in me and maybe there'll be some listeners who relate to this a little bit is we said it at the beginning of the show we're both go-getter girls.
Rebecca:Yeah, part of being a go-getter girl in the way that God wired us in that way, which is a gift if we choose to see it that way. But on the opposite side, where maybe we have areas of struggle at least for me is I love checking a box, I love having a to-do list that I follow and so walking through in my early years as really in the years that I came to know the Lord, I got really good at that. I got really good at that in my walk with God and that's all I'd ever really known. And so it really wasn't until my college years that I was seeking out community in a church home for the first time. That was my own choice and I wasn't just coming with my parents to church any longer. It was in those moments that I think God began to really free me of that and my true relationship with the Lord me walking with the Lord and being in his word and obeying him really began, like you're saying, and so that's a paradigm shift.
Shannon :I'm sure it was for you, shayna we don't have time to like unpack all of that in both of our stories.
Rebecca:I think that's pertinent here and I'm sure listeners will relate to that.
Shannon :Yeah, I just wanna say it one more time it's not be like Noah, so you'll be saved. Obey, so you'll be saved. It's no, obey God. And he has made a way for us to be saved, just like this story. God made a way for Noah to be saved from this flood that he was sending. So I'm just gonna read in Genesis seven. I'll read a few of these verses, we don't have time to read the whole thing it says.
Shannon :Then the Lord told Noah go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. And then verse four for in seven days I will send rain over the earth. 40 days and 40 nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground. And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth, and Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
Shannon :Then verse 10, and after seven days the water of the flood came upon the earth In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day of the month. On that day all the fountains of the great deep birthed forth and the windows of heaven were opened and rain fell upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, skipping down to 16, and those that entered, male and female, all flesh, went in, as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in. I think that's an interesting part of the story. God shut, he shut, that door of that ark. So if we think of this ark as a picture of salvation, the parallel would be Jesus is our ark, like picture climbing that board. Jesus is the ark and we will be transported into eternal life through this ark of salvation created.
Shannon :We're told to work out our salvation. I think that's interesting, like that's a that's you know we're supposed to get busy. And that is confusing to me, because Jesus did the work, it's completed on the cross, paid for, and yet Noah got to work too, so like he's busy building this ark. I mean, this was a huge boat, it took a long time to build, he was busy working and yet this finality of God shut the door. Like God closed them in, there was, they couldn't get out. I think that's, that's a beautiful picture for us, like if we have responded in faith and we are working out our salvation, like it's sealed, the deal is we're safe yeah that just was.
Shannon :That was kind of encouraging to me.
Rebecca:It's very encouraging to me and a word that's coming to mind and this is one of the quotes it's just really stuck with me that Lord gave me, for the book is the outcome is his, but the obedience is ours. So, in thinking through and remembering that, as you, as you said so beautifully, the work was done. Jesus's work on the cross is finished for us and so we. We have confidence in that, as a follower of Christ, we live out of that place of remembering that that's been purchased for us on the cross and also on this side of heaven as we work out our salvation. Part of that is us being Refined and becoming more like Christ, that that process of Sanctification, that the outcome is not on us, just as the outcome of Noah building that arc and and the flood and the outcome of that was not on Noah. That was a part of God's plan and yet, as he obeyed God, god used him to work out that plan. No, god, just as God doesn't need us, god didn't need Noah to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish.
Shannon :Yeah, really good. One more thought I have and then we'll, then we'll get to like boss narratives and how to live.
Shannon :Like this is true, but the love fountains of the great deep in ancient times I don't know if you've read this or heard this before, but the waters represented chaos, you know, and that was. Everybody feared the chaos. If you look back at the beginning of Genesis, it says that everything was formless and void and then God brought order and so, like the fear was the disordering. And that's really what's happening. Like they really feared those waters of the deep. In the New Testament time, like anytime you see the disciples crossing the sea of Gally, they're afraid of the waters below. Like that's a terrifying thing for them. And this is exactly what happened. God unlooses chaos. It's, it's like an uncreation story.
Rebecca:Oh yeah, I've never thought about it that way.
Shannon :Yeah, but ultimately God's creation and then his decreation. We're meant to see something about God in all of this. If you just take the 300,000 foot view, what do we see about God in this story?
Rebecca:The word redemption is coming to mind, right, like we see all the way back in chapter 6. He regretted that he made man. I will blot them out. I will blot out man, who I've created, from the face of the land. So there were extreme consequences, the sin that was present, but again just his justness and his holiness that is not tolerant of that. That feels like a really hard truth in light of what we see in the world right now and his Sovereignty to his power, and remembering that like he orchestrated the flood itself, and not just his plan for how he was Blotting out mankind, but the means by which he did that right, which is a hard truth to swallow. But even knowing all of those things in succession where we're not a surprise to him, he orchestrated those himself.
Shannon :I think too, it shows like his power, like he is over this yeah.
Shannon :He will decide what's right. He will decide what the limit is. He will decide when he's gonna blot Everything out, when he's gonna send this flood. I love that I'm forgetting his first name, but Orton. He writes about how God is never angry Immediately. He's always provoked to wrath. His default toward us is grace and and I mean we have to do a lot To provoke his wrath that's not in his nature to immediately be angry and wrathful. He has patience. He's so kind. All of the years that it took to build this boat, you know, and like right now, all of the years leading up to Christ returning. What's the parallel, rebecca?
Rebecca:in where we are in redemptive history and where they were, there's a coming judgment that God has promised for us to what's the parallel there in light of Noah's story, you know, there was the coming judgment of God wiping out that sin, and there's also the coming day of we will give an account for our behavior, for obedience to the Lord, this side of heaven. And that should, I Think, encourage us and that should challenge us in reverent fear, just as we see in that language that was used in the book of Hebrews, and there's also just this sobering thought of Every person that we encounter this side of heaven Will spend eternity somewhere.
Rebecca:Yeah heaven or hell, a very real heaven or hell.
Shannon :Yeah.
Rebecca:And so we have the opportunity to walk with God in that same righteous way that Noah did and have an impact on People's eternities for the gospel, right? I think sometimes I just have to remind myself, like every person as I walk in the grocery store, as I did this morning, I got, I had a minute to just chat with the the guy next to me checking out his groceries like he will spend eternity somewhere, right? Let's like. Let this grave story that we've reflected on today Ultimately be a reminder to us that time is short and eternity is is forever, and and every person that we come across, we have that great challenge and that great opportunity to Go and share the gospel. Jesus made it really clear that that was our mission, right, as we're talking about Noah's faithfulness and obeying that assignment. Our assignment was made very clear by Jesus during his ministry on earth of like go as you are going, go and make disciples.
Shannon :Absolutely yeah, and our God is being so patient in waiting the day Jesus returns. That time will be up and that will be the great reckoning. And we don't know. You know one knows the day or the time that, just like Noah didn't exactly know, he didn't know when the rain was coming, he knew when God told him get in the boat. We've all been told to get in Christ. Isn't that interesting that the language is in Christ. It's always in Christ, just like in the boat. We've been told get in the boat, get in Christ. And we don't know when the destruction is coming. But we have to get ready and we have to encourage others to get ready.
Shannon :You know, as I look around in culture, I just see division, I think Disparity between those who believe and those who don't like the gap is getting wider and those who don't want to hear about Jesus, those who are becoming hard. It's like you know these verses the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of his thought it was only evil. Continually. You know, there are sectors of the earth that I feel that way. It's like I feel that it's not only evil all the time. You know, when you look at like sex trafficking or pornography or it's just like, it's so dark, it's so evil all the time, corrupt people making money over the exploitation of others.
Shannon :And, reflecting on the story again, god's focus is on those who are in Christ. The rest will be washed away. Yeah, and all that matters is those who are in Christ eternally. So responding to Jesus is ultimately the most important thing. So, rebecca, I want to just read through some false narratives. Okay, okay, in my live like it's true workbook, I have a whole list of false narratives and I just kind of skimmed that list this morning. Reflecting on this story of Noah, I'm like, oh, my word, noah's story correct. So many of these, so let's just do rapid fire. I'm gonna give a false narrative and you tell me, like, what is the true story? And we haven't rehearsed this, so there's no not one bit, I'm excited.
Shannon :There's grace, but yeah, so what is the true story revealed in Noah's story? Okay, so the first one God doesn't care what I do or how I live.
Rebecca:God cares deeply about what we do and how we live right, and we see that so at play in this passage of God's Response to sin. Right, you know, we come to a saving knowledge of Jesus and we're transformed and the Holy Spirit is residing in us and we're day by day being made more into the image of Christ. Our desire should be obedience to him as we walk with him right. And so that worldly narrative that might feel really good of just having our own choice of how we live or how we think or how we behave, it's just very in contradiction to what we see in scripture.
Shannon :Yeah, I mean, when we pick up our hammer and nail, like Noah, and do this righteous work, that matters to him, and so also it matters those who are. Every intention of the heart is only evil. Like that matters to God. How about this one? There is no God, there is no accountability.
Rebecca:I mean, we see his power at play in this passage, we see his sovereignty at play. There is no God. And what was the last? The second?
Shannon :section of it. There's no accountability. Yeah, no accountability for what I do.
Rebecca:Yeah, that's everywhere in this passage, right Like the accountability for sin. I can't tell you the number of times I've had that conversation, even within our space of writing and speaking, like behind the curtain moment for listeners. I feel such this deep responsibility and I'm sure you feel the same, shannon Of being faithful to the word of God, because we're gonna be held accountable to that right.
Shannon :Yeah, all right. So how about this one? Having God in my life won't make anything better.
Rebecca:Yeah, well, I think, specific to Noah as we see him exercise that obedience, and we didn't specifically say this, but as you walked through that timeline you shared with me before we recorded, we see an estimation that it would have taken 55 to 75 years ish to build the art, and that's the majority of a lifetime for us to consider how long Noah was faithful to that obedient call of God.
Rebecca:There had to be days that he didn't feel like picking up his hammer and he didn't feel like it was making his life better being obedient to that assignment. And I feel that In my life I do too. And I think one of the worldly narratives that can be so challenging because I mean, we do see very clearly again in the gospels of Jesus saying what it means to be a disciple of Christ and it's not promising us a life of ease and comfort and all of those things. In fact, many times it's the complete opposite of that. And yet he's worth it. He's worthy of our obedience. Just that reminder that, no, it might not make our life better in a worldly sense, but man.
Shannon :Well, leading up to the flood, it might not have, but there was a point where it was better, that's right that God made his life very better.
Rebecca:Yes, and we live in such brokenness as we've talked about, and I just take such great hope and comfort in what's to come, even when the better might not always feel comfortable as we walk in the world today, but the hope that awaits us in eternity, similar to what happened on the other side of the flood for Noah.
Shannon :Someday we will be in heaven and have eternal life pleasures evermore, and we will look back and maybe we will have to live like Noah he was blameless in his generation. The contrast he's blameless. His generation is not Like. We might have to stand alone, we might have to be lonely, we might have to do some lonely work in faithfulness to God, but ultimately it is better. Okay, so let's just do one more. God is mad at me, so I should hide from him.
Rebecca:And I mean sometimes we act as if we could hide from God.
Shannon :Nobody was able to hide from God. In this story, nobody was able to hide from God in this story Again because he's unchanging.
Rebecca:The same is true today and that might feel maybe scary to some people listening, but it also gives me great comfort to know that I never walked through the brokenness that I experienced to the last narrative that we just talked about. I never experienced that alone. We have the Holy Spirit living within me as a follower of Christ. We have his word, we have the Holy Spirit. So while we can't hide from him, we can't hide we're not hiding our sin from him.
Rebecca:We can hide in him yeah we hide in him and there's such comfort in that.
Shannon :Yeah, you can't run from him, but you can run to him. We can all run to him, no matter what you have done. You know, any one of these people in this wicked generation could have entered this arc any one of them and could have hidden in the arc and every single one of us can hide in Christ. So, rebecca, I feel like we have talked all through this conversation about how to live like it's true. Live like this true story is true, but do you have any closing thought on how do we live like this true story that God told one man to build an arc and saved them, wiped away those who had sinned against him? How can we live like this story is true?
Rebecca:I mean, I think, as we're going into each of our respective stories and being faithful in those, we will, too, have those moments where God gives us an assignment that feels really, really big and new, and we're staring at a blank canvas just trying to figure out where to like, put the paintbrush first and be obedient to him, and I think sometimes we get overwhelmed by the whole of it. Right Like, though, in Noah's context to me.
Rebecca:If I were Noah, I would be super, overwhelmed by just the whole of that big assignment. And yet we see that you know it took 55 to 75 years to complete that. So it was day by day. Faithfulness, and again, we're not trying to be like Noah, we are being thankful and more into the likeness of Jesus, and so that's a day by day process too.
Shannon :It's working out our salvation right. We're working out our salvation right.
Rebecca:And so I think, not getting overwhelmed by the bigness of what might seem like your assignment today, but just day by day, being faithful and walking with the Lord and knowing that he will lead us, in that we are not alone. We have his word, we have the Holy Spirit, as we've talked about. So I'm encouraged by that when my assignment feels really big.
Shannon :Yeah, so good. So we hope you're gonna open your Bible and look at this story more deeply and then pick up your hammer and nails, get back to work on whatever. God has put in front of you and live like it's true. Thank you, Rebecca. It's been so great to talk with you today.
Rebecca:Thank you, friend.