1 Year and 17 days

Genesis 7:4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

I’m sure most of us, if not all, know of the story of Noah.  But in the Genesis account itself there are a number of details that reveal the quality of the faith of this man who obeyed God.  One such quality was his patience.  How do we know Noah was a patient man?

In the verse above, verse 4, God tells Noah that He would send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights.  That’s a long time.  But was this how long Noah actually stayed inside the ark?  I was one of those who thought that Noah stayed in the ark for forty days and nights.  Not bad, actually – one month and ten days inside an ark with noisy and smelly animals.  But how long did Noah, in obedience to God, stay inside the ark?

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

So he was 600 years old when the floodwaters came.  How old was he when he finally stepped out of the ark?

Genesis 8:13-14

13 By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

He was 601 years old when the earth finally dried up.  All in all, according to the Bible Knowledge Commentary, Noah was in the ark for 1 year and 17 days.

Imagine being inside the ark, filled with animals, floating and moving with the waves, probably doing the same things again and again, eating the same food again and again, smelling the same animals day after day.  All this out of obedience to the Lord.

God told Noah to build an ark.  He did.  God told him to go in the ark.  He did.  And he waited, patiently, until the Lord told him to get out of the ark.  No questions asked.  No complaints.  He just waited patiently for the Lord to tell him to get out of the ark.

Now that’s faith.  It’s a faith that produces patience.  It’s a faith that trusts – if God said it, then it must be right.  And for a man of faith there is no other option, only obedience.

It’s a far cry from what people call “faith” today.  Yes, we obey, but we ask “for how long, Lord?”.  And when we start getting bored with our obedience, with our walk with God, we begin to complain, or we ask “Lord, when is this going to end?”.

But not Noah.  He stayed put, shut inside the ark for 1 year and 17 days.  He waited for the Lord to say that it was all over.

So, how are we doing in our “ark” of obedience?

An Anatomy of a Servant

Psalm 78:70-72  He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens;
71  from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance.
72  And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

What does it mean to be a “servant of God”?  Today many mistakenly make the term “servant of God” a title of position or of recognition.  We introduce someone as a “Servant” (the capital “S” intended) of God because of his accomplishments and success in ministry, failing to see that the real servant (small “s” also intended) does not look for accomplishment and success…all he wants is to obey and please his master.

In Psalm 78:70-72 I see an anatomy of a servant, through the call of David.  And I pray that as we study this anatomy we may pray that this also may be found in each one of us who claim to have a ministry or calling from the Lord.

He chose David His servant.  It is God who chooses His servant to be a pastor, evangelist, worship leader, teacher.  Attending Bible School does not make us a pastor.  Attending a Missions Training Institute does not make us a missionary.  Having an Education degree in college does not make us a bible school teacher.  It is the call of God in the heart of a Christian, an unmistakable call, to serve the Lord specifically in a certain area of His church, for the advancement of His kingdom.

Why is it important that our serving the Lord be God’s choice and not ours?  When we call ourselves to ministry we set our own standards, our own boundaries.  When God calls us it is His standard, His boundaries, that we submit to.

He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens.  We cannot begin to serve God fully unless we realize our nothingness before Him.  The shepherd was considered a very lowly work during early Israel, usually reserved for the youngest.  While the older brothers were soldiers, David was left to tend the sheep.  And yet God chose Him.

We are not deserving of the call of God.  God, in His grace, considers us worthy to be His instrument.  We are nothing.

1 Corinthians 3:5  What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

Notice that Paul did not say “who is Apollos…who is Paul?”.  He said “what is…”.  They were ONLY SERVANTS.

And David kept this humility in his heart always.  When God revealed His plan for him, look at David’s response:

2 Sam 7:18-19  Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?
19  And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD?

Do we keep this sense of nothingness the whole time we are serving the Lord?

From tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance.  God’s call has no comparison to any other offer this world has for us.  From tending lowly sheep David was called to tend the people of God, Israel.

A servant of God looks at the call of the Lord as something so glorious, so magnificent, that nothing in this world can compare with it.  You may have work, or managing your business, but your heart and mind are so engrossed in what the Lord has called you to do, to be.  If you’re a full time pastor or minister there is nothing else that compares to the ministry that God has called you to do for Him.  No other joy, no other source of peace or satisfaction than fulfilling what God has called us to do.  Nothing the world offers – money, fame, position, or any kind of work, career and occupation, can steal us away from what the Lord has called us to do.

When Jesus called His first apostles, look what they did:

Mark 1:16-18  As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17  "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18  At once they left their nets and followed him.

Peter and Andrew were willing to leave their source of income, their life, for the Lord.

Mark 1:19-20  When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.
20  Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Jesus’ call was so great James and John even left their father with the hired men!  Is this how great God’s call is to us?  Nothing should compare with it.

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart.  A servant of God knows that his life, his walk, his testimony is of utmost importance to his calling.  God is glorified not just in the results of our ministry but also in the testimony that our life brings to it.  Here is where, sadly, many have failed.

1 Timothy 4:16  Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Life must come before doctrine.  Our doctrine is useless unless it is first seen in our lives.  God’s servants and leaders in the church were always chosen because of their character, not their capabilities.  Many today put doctrine first without watching their lives.  As Samuel told King Saul “obedience is better than sacrifice”.

with skillful hands he led them.  The skill of a Christian worker does not come primarily from school or training, but from the gift of the Spirit given him and his practicing it.  It’s while we do what God has called us to do, and rely solely on His power and grace, that our skill is honed, polished.

But it doesn’t mean we cannot learn from others.  Here is where our bible school, our seminary training, and our personal study comes in.  We are serving the King of kings.  He deserves the best from us.  We are to train ourselves, and allow others to train us, so that we may serve the Lord with skillful hands.  Even after formal study a servant of God must continue to be a learner, learning from those who have gone ahead of us, and from those whose lives exhibit the working of God’s grace.

Of course, above all these things, is the grace of God.

1 Corinthians 15:10  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

May we all be servants of the Lord, desiring to obey and please our Heavenly Master.

An Oracle Concerning the Wicked

Psalms 36:1-4
An oracle is within my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before his eyes.
2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin.
3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good.
4 Even on his bed he plots evil;
he commits himself to a sinful course
and does not reject what is wrong.

There comes a time in a Christian’s life where he notices the life of the “wicked”, just like the psalmist in Psalm 36.  All of a sudden he noticed how sinful the wicked were.  And if you study in detail how he described the sinful you will notice that “sinners” have not changed!

There is no fear of God before his eyes.  In other words, the fear of God does not guard and guide his steps.  He just does what he wants.

He flatters himself so much, he loves and exalts himself so much, that he does not detect or hate sin in his life.

His words are wicked and deceitful.  He is not wise and does not do good.

Even on his bed he is plotting evil.  Evil does not catch him by surprise.  He plans it, plots it, carefully.  And he commits himself to it, and does not reject what is wrong.

And as a Christian continues in his walk with God all of these wicked ways are magnified!  We see them all around us…we deal with them in our work, see them on television, in senate investigations…hey, we even live with them sometimes.  And we notice their life, how they can disobey God and live lives as they please.  The only thing that probably holds us back from judging them is that we were just like them before, if not for the grace of God touching our lives.

But the psalmist has an answer to this.  As he observed all the wicked acts surrounding him, his heart was already “singing” the answer.  By the way, an oracle is – “an authoritative or wise expression or answer”, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.  David had an answer to all the sinfulness of man surrounding him.

So what was his oracle, or his answer to all the wickedness around him?  You will notice that he did not say “As for Me…”.  He did not say – “that’s the life of the wicked, but if you look at my life…”.  The psalmist did not compare the life of sinners with himself, or even with other believers in God.  He compared them to God.

Psalms 36:5-9
Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O Lord, you preserve both man and beast.
7 How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men
find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

In the midst of a sinful and wicked generation, what should a Christian be dwelling on, be meditating upon?  Upon God Himself.

His love.  His righteousness, especially the righteousness imputed upon us through Jesus Christ.  His justice.  His preservation.  His unfailing love.  His abundance.  His light.

If we counter the sinful life that we see around us with our own lives, or our own righteousness, we will end up either being frustrated, angry or even tempted to do what the world does.  We will be filled with envy, with bitterness, even towards God, and might even end up questioning why the Lord allows the wicked to prosper and we don’t.

But if we counter the sinful life of the world with the beauty, majesty and goodness of our God, then we will be filled with the joy and peace that only He can give.  He is the One we boast of in our life, He is the source of life, and He is the inspiration we have to continue in life.  Not what we have, not in our position or accomplishments.  Only in Him.

Psalms 36:10-12

10 Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart.
11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 See how the evildoers lie fallen —
thrown down, not able to rise!

Seek First…

Matthew 6:33  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Here’s a teaching of our Lord that has been forgotten, or, at the least, placed on a shelf while we busy ourselves with other things.

It’s interesting to note that the context of this teaching is about worry.

Matthew 6:25  "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
     And yet how many of us disobey this command of the Lord (He said “I tell you…”, not “I advice you”, or “maybe you can give this a try”) when we become anxious and worried about our life.  What occupies our life today is what we will eat, drink or wear.  Of course today we have extras like – when will I have my iPad, or buy a new car, house, etc.

In this verse our Lord reminds us of what is more important – our life more than food and drink, our body more than our clothes.  But today we have made the externals more important than our bodies.

The Lord continues further:

Mat 6:31  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
Mat 6:32  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
     Notice in verse 31 the focus on what we say – “what shall we eat?  what shall we drink?  This isn’t referring to positive confession, but to our words expressing what our hearts believe.  Do we still wonder where our food, drink and clothes come from?

And look at our Lord’s obvious comparison to pagans, people who don’t have a God – “for the pagans RUN AFTER ALL THESE THINGS.  Hmmm…I wonder, does this describe the kind of life we are living – running to and fro, here and there, back and forth for what we will eat, drink, use and wear?  Then, as our Lord says, we are like pagans.

His last point before verse 33 is a reminder of who our Father is – “your heavenly Father knows that you need them”.  He knows.  He is your Father.  He knows what you need.

So what should we be running after?  “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

What are we seeking for in this life?  Is God just a means to what we are seeking for?  Or is He the One we seek, the One we cannot live without, the One who gives us life…real life.

God reminds us to SEEK Him FIRST.  Seek His kingdom.  Seek the reign and the realm of the King of your life.  Seek His righteousness.  What gives us joy, and satisfaction, is not what we have in this life, but Who we live it with, and how we walk in it.

God’s promise – “and all these things (what we will eat, drink and wear) will be given to us as well”.  Notice the “as well”?  If we seek His kingdom and righteousness first, God will give it to us.  He will allow us to enjoy the blessings and benefits of the kingdom and His life.  Plus, all that we need as well.  The things we eat, drink and wear – they’re just the bonuses of life.  Why run after them?  Why worry about them?  What we should be running after, living for and seeking in this life is to be with the King, live in His kingdom, and walk in His righteousness.

Running to Egypt for help

Isa 31:1  Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.

Israel was under attack from the Assyrians.  And though the Lord was reaching out to them through the prophets, speaking His word and making known His will, they ran to the Egyptians.  Egypt was the superpower then.  And it was easy for other nations to run for them for help, for they had the resources.  For this situation for Israel, Egypt had the army – the horses and chariots they needed, for help.  They had nowhere else to go.  Compared to the Assyrians they were nothing.  So they looked to Egypt.

This was what pained the Lord’s heart.  Israel was to be a people, a nation, who trusted and relied on the Lord, not on themselves or other nations.  Yet, when in trouble, they did not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from Him.  They had forgotten what the Lord eventually tells them:

Isa 31:3  But the Egyptians are men and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, he who helps will stumble, he who is helped will fall; both will perish together.

He who helps will stumble…he who is helped will fall.  This has happened to a number of us already.  Instead of trusting in God, we trusted in others, even ourselves…and things eventually fell.  And even if there is a seeming temporary solution, yet in our spirit we have failed, for we have ceased to trust fully in our Lord.

Many times we are brought to those situations, similar to what Israel was going through – where we are pressured, being attacked, surrounded by problems, needs – financial needs, emotional needs, relationship problems…and we panic.  And instead of waiting upon the Lord, seeking His wisdom and help, we seek help from “Egypt”, from human or worldly sources, that temporarily answer our need, but eternally does nothing to our soul.

There are many in dire financial need who run to money lenders and borrow money knowing they cannot pay, who experience temporary relief, but in the long run put themselves in more dire situations.  There are those who have problems in their marriage, who seek the relief of the laws of our country, and spend thousands of pesos for an annulment, instead of seeking God’s will for them, and do what pleases Him.  There are some who have emotional needs, a need for love, a need for companionship, for recognition, who seek help in relationships with the opposite sex, thinking that they will bring the peace and joy their hearts seek.  And yet they don’t realize that this temporary relief does not give them the fullness of joy and peace that only God can bring.

Do not run to Egypt, and rely on chariots and horses.  We are to be a people who rely on the Lord for everything!  Do not be afraid to wait, to seek the Lord with all your heart, to ask for counsel from the godly spiritual men in your church, and find the wisdom God has for your situation.  Do not be satisfied with temporary solutions – seek the solution that satisfies your spirit eternally, and pleases God who sees your total trust in Him.