A Really Super Long Quarantine

Hey, are you tired of quarantining? Me too! 

On this rainy morning I am thinking about Noah! You remember the story, right? God saw that “every intention of the thoughts of [mans] heart was only evil continually.” So, God chose to flood the earth and start over with the one righteous man He found, a man named Noah. Noah wasn’t perfect, but He tried to follow the ways of God, he “walked with God”. So, God had Noah build an ark and he and his family and 2 of every living animal were shut up in the ark. They had to stay in the ark until the flood was over. How long you ask? 

Genesis 7:17 says, “The flood continued forty days on the earth.”

Genesis 7:24 says, “and the waters prevailed on the earth for 150 days.”

Genesis 8:4, “and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month.”

Genesis 8:6, “At the end of 40 days Noah opened a window… and sent forth a raven.”

Genesis 8:10, “He waited seven days…”

Genesis 8:12, “He waited another seven days…”

Finally, in Genesis 8:16 God tells Noah and his family they can come out now! All together Noah and his family and all of those animals were in that boat for 364 days… An entire year!?

Now the ark was big but it also had a family of 8 and 2 of every living thing in it. Imagine the smell? The chores? What did they eat? Imagine how agitated the animals must have gotten… imagine how long those days must have seemed. 

A few similarities between Noah’s quarantine and ours:

·      It was meant to protect he and his family. I know there is much debate over all of this right now. A lot of protests and a lot of people feeling that the restrictions are getting old and need to be lifted. And indeed, they are beginning to be lifted throughout our country. But one of the things that helps is to remember the why! 

·      Noah and his family were isolated. They were more isolated than you and I will ever be! Not only were they sheltering in place, they couldn’t facetime or email or watch tv. When the floods subsided, they were still the only other human beings they could see or know. So be grateful for what you got.

·      God was with them every step of the way. Do you know that the God of the universe is with you right now? Paul says in Romans 8:11, “…the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you” He tells us in Philippians 2:12 says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you…” I fear that a lot of Christians says something like, “Yeah I know that, but…” No. There is no but. If you believe God is with you than act like it. Live like it. I know it is easy to forget, God is invisible after all! (Colossians 1:3) All of us will forget sometimes, myself included, but when we do we must repent and rejoice in rediscovering this profound truth. 

·      They were delivered. Notice the past tense? They were delivered and so were you. When Jesus Christ rose again, He overcame it all. This too shall pass. The stay at home stuff will end, a vaccine will most likely be discovered. A lot of things will be different for at least a while. But life will go on. In the midst of this, don’t be fooled into thinking God needs to deliver you from this when He already has! Don’t forget the Gospel in your moments of despair!