HSD: Are You Building Your Ark?
Come here. Come take a walk with me…
Now I know things have been a little rough lately.
I know your walk with Christ hasn’t been exactly easy.
But the Holy Spirit has a Word for us today, and I am so eager to share it with you.
Now first, some context.
I went for my morning run for the first time in a good while this morning, and as I was led to listen to Hebrews 11, the Holy Spirit highlighted verse 7.
“By faith, Noah, being Divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with Godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Now there is a reason we start here and not in the book of Genesis chapters 6 and 7 where the full story is detailed.
We have to meditate on what this verse is actually revealing.
Even so, let us think back to Noah’s process.
Noah, who was favored by God, was called to do a major assignment by God Himself—an assignment that would save the human race.
Notice this, though. In God’s calling, He caused the same obedience and commitment to this assignment to save both mankind while providing Noah with all he needed without Noah even having to ask for it.
He sent him in there with provisions.
With his family.
With responsibility.
Under protection.
All of it came with obedience. With his trusting of the process. All of his needs were met by default.
All he had to do was focus on completing the assignment and by default his household was saved. By default, he became heir of the righteousness that’s reserved for those who live by faith in God. By default, he and his family abided in the protection of the Lord and was saved by grace (Psalm 91).
I need you to understand what’s been happening to you.
Ever since you have been called by God and you’ve surrendered to His calling, you’ve faced many afflictions promised to the righteous (Psalm 34:19).
You have been tested and purged by the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10).
But the Holy Spirit would like to submit something to your perspective today:
The ark was not built in one day.
The ark that Noah was called to build took shape and was developed through a tedious process of laying wood board after wood board together. Gathering materials, and by God’s divine strategy and instruction, assembling those materials to build solid foundation necessary to weather the storm ahead.
You’ve been enduring the same fight.
Seemingly warring against the same spirits.
Facing the same temptations.
Battling the same tensions.
Still worshipping God in due diligence.
Fasting by faith.
Praying even with weak knees in weakness.
And nothing seems to be changing.
But, I remind you again, the ark was not built in one day.
The building was a tedious process of committing to the same vision every day.
Exercising the same level of faith every day.
It may seem like you keep praying the same prayers again and again and nothing is happening.
Your prayers are assembling into a strong foundation.
They have not gone amiss.
He is NOT ignoring you.
They are building the vessel needed to usher in the promise.
The friction in your life is liken to the sandpaper used to smoothen imperfect surfaces…this friction is necessary to perfect you.
Your salty tears are being collected to help purify the earth in His Name.
Like Noah, the continuous sacrifice and Submission of your body is used to advance the Kingdom—keep fasting.
Don’t worry about those who don’t understand who you are now and where God is taking you.
Let them grieve the death of who you used to be the best way they know how.
Some will only understand you and what your assignment is when the boat doors close—when they have no access to your place of divine elevation.
The Word tells us not to grow weary in well doing because we will reap [our reward] if we don’t give up (Galatians 6:9).
A carpenter doesn’t begin a project and stops working midway because he is frustrated with how long the process is taking. He sets his focus on the blueprint and continues until that vision is physically manifested.
In Matthew 7:24, Jesus draws this same comparison of the builder. “Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.”
In order to stand firm in your wood or plywood placing, you must stand firm on the blueprint you’ve been given.
Stand firm on His Word. He will give you strategy to complete the assignment.
Stand firm on the vision. It will give you hope.
Stand firm on what you’ve been told and shown.
No matter what it looks like and no matter what It feels like.
When Noah began construction, consider all the things he might have had to endure:
Ridicule for a storm no one else could detect. Potential confusion from members of his own household. Moments of internal questioning that had to be placed under subjection and rebuked.
Just the same. He stood firm.
He knew that he just had to keep building.
Keep doing the same things over and over again until what he was instructed to do was complete.
He had to drown out distraction to honor his obedience to the Lord.
And what happened thereafter?
God’s promise came to pass.
God promised that a storm was coming, and it came.
My sibling-in-Christ…
God has promised you that you will endure many things (John 16:33), and while His Word prepares us for trials of various kinds (James 1: 2), that doesn’t mean he excluded the possibility of you enduring the same fight for a while.
Keep assembling your wood boards. Your household will appreciate the prayers you’ve lifted in your Secret Place when the storms come.
When the assignment is complete and they can all abide under the Shadow of the Almighty as a reward for your obedience (Psalm 91:1).
Keep laying your plywood. This physical realm will catch up to what God has already established as truth in Heaven before you know it. (Matthew 6:10).
Do not grow weary. Strengthen any part of you that feels weak today (Hebrews 12:12-13).
Your only job is to keep going until what He has shown you comes to pass.
Keep building the ark.
Keep building your ark.
The rest—all the things you long for and pray about—comes with the boat.
Reflect on this. Receive this.
But in everything you do.
Lead others to Christ with Love.
Holy Spirit, I thank You for this Word today. Please let it meet the eyes of every person who needs to hear this so that they may be encouraged to move forward and lead others to you with Love. We love You, Lord, and we thank You. In Jesus’ Name to the Glory of the Father by the leading of the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.
