But God remembered Noah…Genesis 8:1

--- The Word of God for us,the People of God ---

Horatio G. Spafford, a successful Chicago lawyer, lost most of his wealth in the financial crisis of 1873. He sent his wife and four daughters on a trip to France, but on their way the ship was struck by another and sank. Of 225 passengers, only 87 survived. Mrs. Spafford was among the survivors, but the four daughters perished. As soon as she reached land, she telegraphed a message to her husband:

Saved alone. Children lost. What shall I do?

Spafford left on the next ship to join his wife and bring her back to Chicago. As he sailed towards France, in the depth of his bereavement, he asked the captain to let him know when they were over the spot where the ship went down, so he could honor the memory of his four daughters. When they reached that point Horatio Spafford wrote a hymn that has, for nearly 150 years, been a standard for our faith in troubled times. The first stanza tells at once the common human experience of peaceful times interrupted by moments (or years) of personal chaos in loss:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

At the end – for every person – it is a universal truth that we would like it to be well with my soul. There is no greater hope than to live well and come to the end of life satisfied that life has been meaningful, and enjoyable. The question is, what will make my life meaningful?

I’m close to certain most people have been doing some deep thinking these days about what the meaning all this Covid-19 nightmare could possibly add to life, and if life will ever give our souls a rest again. Certainly, the looters in riots have not found any peace in their souls with the TV’s or iPhones they’ve stolen. Meditation, calm mountain streams, or satisfying experiences, drugs, money, prestige, fame, or even religion can’t be the point of life. Some of that is destructive to any kind of peace; most of it isn’t harmful, but neither are they that for which our souls crave…peace…especially when we wind up losing it all, either like Horatio Spafford, when the ship goes down, or like every other human being, when our family has to call the funeral home.

There was another man who had to say good-bye to everything he knew because of the angry billows. His name was Noah, and his experience gives us the wisdom we need on life’s fill-in-the-blank test question, which is…

It will be well with my soul if I

Let’s fill-in some of the blanks today. There are at least four ways Noah’s example speaks to us in today’s crisis, and the way it seems to unhinge whatever has been normal and threatens to keep us out of sync with that which makes for peace in our souls. First, it will be well with my soul, if…

I Take God at His Word

Noah took God’s words at face value, meaning, God said so, and Noah acted so. What words, exactly? Well, God said a lot to Noah, but first was destroy. God told Noah that He was going to destroy everything on the face of the earth.[1] That’s a hard thing to believe. Even during the Cold War arms races of the mid-20^th century there was always something deep inside each of us that said, surely, we won’t all die…the world can’t end. It must have been that way in Noah’s day. Noah preached for 120 years and nobody outside his immediate family believed.

Today liberal scholars even doubt God’s Word that Noah existed. They claim he is just an analogy – only a teaching tool – used by God to help us understand. My friends, if life is going to have meaning – if it will be well with your soul – it will be because you take God at His Word! Another word God said to Noah was come.

God saw Noah’s righteousness amid an extremely perverse and wicked generation (can we say 2020?). And God invited Noah and all his family to come into the ark of safety. This is almost verbatim how the jailer in New Testament Philippi was invited to be saved. The invitation was to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved…AND thy house[2].

Jesus says it plainly in the Gospel:

Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.[3]

If you have never accepted Christ, take God at His Word. Invite Jesus to be Lord over your life and your soul…it will be well with both. It will be well with my soul, if I take God at His Word, and secondly…

If I Trust God in Life’s Storms

Can you trust God? Noah trusted God in the worst storm this planet has ever seen; well, we ALL pray like the dickens when the storms howl. But it was over a hundred years before the storm that Noah started working on that little boat. When he cut down that first thorny Acacia tree to make planks for the ark’s hull, THAT was the sweat of faith on Noah’s face.

Noah gave God the best years he had. He worked on that ark from around his 500^th birthday until there were 600 candles on the cake. Now, that sounds ancient, and it would be something of a miracle for any of us to live to that age. But Noah lived to about 950, so, in a 21^st century comparison, Noah was like a man in his late forties. He probably had strength; he built a cruise ship without so much as an electric nail gun. He could’ve taken life easy, joined the country club, and forgotten this ark business. But Noah trusted God that there would be a storm.

In our day people have acted like there is no storm of judgment coming. It will not be surprising that when Jesus comes it will surely be like a thief in the night[4].

Reading the Book of Genesis you get the sense that even the animals were smarter than the humans of that day; they went into the ark willingly. And Noah and family were not untrusting of them either. I saw a cartoon of Mrs. Noah with a clipboard as the animals were marching up the gangplank two-by-two. A little piece of scrap wood is marching behind a couple of giraffes. Noah’s wife turns and asks, Hey, Noah, where do you want the termites? (Talk about trust!)

And once the animals were all inside, the trust rubber met the faith road.

A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them. Genesis 7:16

When that door closed trust went from theoretical to practical. For 120 years Noah had preached to the townspeople and they simply blew him off as the old crazy one. That was bad. He’d had a century of blisters and splinters from building that boat. But now, all the animals, the food, the family – every bit of it was on board – and the LORD shut the door – CLUNK…THUD! Noah couldn’t sed the sun or what was happening outside; his life was officially on-hold!

Have you ever felt that way? You have plans, dreams, schedules, meetings, and suddenly God moves you into a holding pattern. You’re set for destination success, and, with static in the background, you hear, ladies and gentlemen, due to conditions beyond our control we have been ordered to circle the airport. We have no other directions or information. Please relax, stay in your seat. We have some bad weather approaching and the turbulence will be starting any moment. Thank you…please wait…your prayer will be answered by the next customer service angel in the order you called in your prayer.

Just like that, you’re admitted to the hospital. Just like that, you’re out of a job. Just like that, the subpoena arrives in the mail. Life is in a circling pattern, and you have no idea how much fuel is left in the tank. The doors are shut like Noah’s ark.

If you’re like me, your natural tendency at times like that is to scream, in a reasonably respectful way, HEY GOD, why me? I’m certain there are folks in the Covid-19 wards wondering that today.

Meteorologists found out “seeding” the clouds with chemicals to begin the rains takes the force out of hurricanes. In doing that they could lessen the severity of those storms. But scientists discovered the severe storms are better for our weather on a global basis. They bring temporary grief in some areas but are helpful in the long run.

There are times when God shuts the doors, puts us in a holding pattern; it may cause temporary wondering and grief, but they are producing eternal dividends in our lives. It was like that in Noah’s experience. The relentless forty-day hurricane, with waters not only raining down, but gushing up from splits in the earth’s crust tested the ark of faith.

For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. Genesis 7:17

When the problems came pouring down, and up, the ark was lifted above it all. The door being shut seemed to close Noah and his family off from all they’d known. And it became their salvation. When we break into the 8^th chapter, we find that, when Noah trusted God, God remembered him and his family. God spoke to the water and the water listened. God had done that in the creation, and He would do it when His children crossed the Red Sea. And, in His incarnation Jesus also spoke to the water, told it to behave itself. Beloved, any time Jesus says Hush, you can mark it down that there will be a great calm. That is what makes it well with your soul, when your soul has learned to take God at His Word and trust God in the storms.

It will be well with my soul, if I take God at His Word, trust God in life’s storms, and thirdly…

If I Serve God with My Strength

Once the storm was over it was time to go forward. God told Noah to get busy. Noah was commissioned by God to go forth, and to bring life everywhere. If there is anything our earth needs now, in every community, home, business, and personal existence, it is the abundant life of Jesus Christ.

Noah complied with God’s marching orders. He was told to go forth, so he went!

Simple plan, eh? But how does that bring peace to my soul? This is the part that gets really good. When you decide that there is nothing that God can ask of you that you will not give, you are completely in the will of God. He can ask for your

· Time…you’ll give it

· Talent…you’ll use it

· Treasure…He’ll have it

You will give all of that and more because you know that He is FAITHFUL in the storms, and He is faithful in His Word; HE will do right by your service with a whole heart. And it will be WELL WITH YOUR SOUL.

It will be well with my soul, if I take God at His Word, trust God in life’s storms, serve God with my strength, and lastly…

If I Worship God with All My Heart

The very first thing Noah did when he left his little rowboat was to build an altar and worship. We could also mention that the only reason he was in that boat in the first place (and lived to the age of 601) is because he worshipped God. Had Noah not been a worshipper, he would’ve been destroyed with every other soul on earth.

Going for long periods of time without worship (for me) is a little like a little kid trying to hold his breath until Christmas gets here. A lady was leaving the church one Sunday after service and she said to the Preacher, Pastor, that was one of the best services. I felt like we were translated right into the very throne room of God. The parson said, Well, I’d hoped it wasn’t that good. The lady replied, whatever do you mean? Well, said the parson, the last time you told me that, it was good enough to last you three months before you came back for more.

Worship should be a regular occurrence in your life. I personally enjoy worship and relish every opportunity to be in God’s house. Now, you have a family, a job, responsibilities – and these should be attended to with diligence. However, the LORD has commanded that His people rest and worship weekly (not weakly). If you give more attention to recreation, or a higher priority to hobbies, and yes, even your occupation, than you do to worship, your priorities are not God’s priorities. The first response of a grateful heart is worship.

Is it WELL with your soul?

In our text it says when Noah offered his sacrifice at the altar God was very pleased. That phrase in Hebrew is a root word that is pronounced noo-akh (Noah). If your name is Noah, it means rest. What God smelled in the altar sacrifice was a restful thing. Noah offered up a sacrificial animal; what God received was Noah.

In that ark Noah found himself; he found rest for his soul. Was Noah’s life meaningful?

· He took God at His Word, and his family was saved.

· Noah trusted God in the storms and his problems lifted him out of danger.

· Noah served God with his strength and his worship was sweet rest in the presence of the living God.

I would say Noah’s life was jam-packed with meaning.

And now, how is it with our souls? We are just getting off the ark now after four months of exile online and under the shade trees. We’re stepping back on the sanctuary terra firma to offer our first worship.

Churches, businesses, families, neighbors, and friends have seen the Covid-19 storm swallow everything of what we would call normal life. And, truthfully, church as we knew it, may never be the same again. In many ways we’re starting over. We are going to have to discover whole new ways of bringing peace, light, and the message of the Good News to this community.

Some people will never get that. Some will never accept that the 1950’s version of Andy, Opie, Aunt Bea, and Barney is gone, and we are now challenged with starting over. In some ways the church is just like Noah, fresh from stepping off the Ark, more than a bit rattled, and wondering what’s next. How are we going to survive everything being changed so radically?

· Ways of communicating through masks when you can’t even tell if someone’s smiling or growling?

· Social rules that won’t let you get close?

· Clean this…don’t touch that?

Are we doomed? Is this the end of time? Is Jesus coming back next week? The answers to all of that are yes…no…and perhaps.

But here is something to take away, chew on, and remember about the faith once delivered to the saints:

God started over with just a man who was 601 years old; his name was Noah. He had a wife, 3 sons and their wives. It was a church with an official roll of 8!

If you trusted God in this storm, and you take God at His Word, serve God with your strength, and continue to worship God with everything you’ve got.

It will be well with your soul!

Our Prayer

Father God, We get it that starting over isn’t for the faint of heart, it is for the faithful heart, that takes your Word seriously, and trusts You in the storms. Lord, you will lift the clouds on our troubles as You lifted the ark for Noah and family. And, Father, let it be that we are found stepping out when those floodwaters recede, to serve and worship you in a brand-new world of Your creating.

For the glory, honor, and praise to which You alone are worthy, o Lord, we pray in the Name of the Son, cooperating with the Spirit, to honor and exalt the Majesty of the Father.