I was reading the very familiar story tonight with the kids about Noah and the Ark. Except tonight, something stood out to me.
To say Noah was inconvenienced would be an understatement. He was stuck on a huge boat, floating around with hundreds of smelly, loud animals getting sea sick for 150 days.
Meanwhile, life as he knew it before the flood was being completely destroyed by flood waters. He had no idea what 'life as usual' would be like after the waters receded, he just trusted and remained obedient.
So instead of picket signs and rally's to fight for his right to stay on dry land, in his comforts, whatever those might be, he chose obedience and started building the ark.
Im sure people laughed at him as he gathered wood and built a massive boat in the desert. What a loser...doesnt he know we're in a drought?!? Yet he continued to build, not out of fear of drowning, but out of obedience to God.
The beauty in obedience is finding out later what God had in mind. Part of a new creation. God saw beauty that Noah couldnt fully grasp.
Fast forward thousands of years to 2020...The biggest inconvenience and hardship of the century. Masks, restrictions, protocols, job loss...the list goes on. What will life as we know it look like when these waters have receded? Yet, in the midst of the flood, the stench of isolation and thrashing waves of uncertainty, what is God speaking? If we truly listened to the father, what is he telling us?
When these waters dry up and our ship has settled, I wonder what beauty awaits.