Sermon on Judges 16 (7/10/2022)

Genesis 7:17-24

Genesis 7:17-24

English Standard Version 

  What absolute sorrow and heartbreak.  It's hanging there in every verse, as deep as the waters as they crept over the mountains.  You can imagine watching this from the outside, watching as the floods crept higher and higher, slowing devouring the fields and the hills and the mountains until there was nothing left, this monster eating the world with an insatiable appetite, devastating life and all that were living it.  It's like being in a room with the lights off and watching someone slowly close the door, so that shaft of light grows more narrow by the second until there's just a sliver, and then boom... gone.

  These days, the front pages give us this same feeling.  The shooting in Chicago on the holiday is heartbreaking, to read about those people, those families, where hope vanished in a flash.  Violence claims so many lives, you can almost feel hope slipping through your fingers and you wonder if its another monster, creeping across the hills and up the mountains, devouring the world.

  But look -- there on the waves, tossing to and fro, there's life!  There's still hope, because all is not lost -- one little ark, a bathtub in the ocean, filled to the brim with life and promise of a tomorrow, for all has not been lost.  In a giant storm, there's one small grain, floating forward, hanging on until it can be planted back into the ground.  Hope is still there in the midst of the flood, and it's just waiting until it can blossom once more.

  There's hope, too, in the world today, even if you have to search among the waves.  There's a grain, a seed, waiting to be planted, to blossom once more.  Friends -- look for the hope.  I promise it is there, even if you have to search behind every wave, behind every shadow threatening to devour.  Hope will not be lost to the depths.  The sun will rise tomorrow, and that little grain of hope will still be riding the waves, waiting, watching.  Hope lives on!

Genesis 7:13-16

Genesis 7:13-16 

English Standard Version 

  One of my all-time favorite movies is The Hunt for Red October.  I watched it enough that at one point, I'd learned most of the Russian in it.  There's a scene in the movie where Sean Connery is describing the reason that he told the Russians he was defecting was based on Cortes' burning of his ships when he arrived in the new world.  I can still hear Connery saying, "As a result, his men were well motivated."

  Sometimes, when you commit to a way, you leave things behind.  You're forced to press on, even when you aren't sure what lies ahead.  That's what I think of when I read of God closing the door behind Noah and his family.  They were shut in, and had committed themselves to the Lord and to the Lord's path, not knowing what was ahead.  

  They were right to trust in God, as we are right to trust in God.  We know not what lies ahead, but any other path is folly in the midst of the storm.  So do not fear committing yourself to the one who is not only worth of your trust but also strong enough to save you from whatever storms may rage.  Nothing else can deliver you from the ultimate storm.  Entrust yourself to the ark, and let the waves bash against the door, as you are safe, even in the storm.

Genesis 7:7-12

Genesis 7:7-12 

English Standard Version 

  So they go into the ark, and they're in there with all the animals and it's loud and cramped and uncertain, and surely the neighbors are watching and wondering what's going on... and for 7 days, nothing happens. 

  I've never noticed that before (which is a good reason to keep reading Scripture, because you notice things you haven't seen before).  They're in the ark, and they're just waiting.  God told them to get in the ark, but maybe it's sunny and 70 outside and Noah's thinking he could have squeezed in a few rounds of golf while he waits.  Or maybe they're thinking they could have looked harder for the unicorns.  Or maybe they're starting to wonder if the whole ark wasn't a giant waste of time and resources, and if the neighbors are laughing, perhaps they're on the brink of abandoning it all?

  We don't know what those 7 days were like, but I'm guessing there have been times in your life when you know what that felt like.  When you were waiting.  Maybe you're there now.  We think we know what's going to happen, but God's timing is different than our own.  So we're just waiting.

  What's the old saying -- God is never late but always on time.  But God's timing and our timing... they don't always line up.  We want immediate action when we step into the ark.  We want immediate answers to prayer. 

  Sometimes we're left to wait.  

  But don't leave the ark.  The rain is coming.

  Don't give up on God.  God's still at work, even if it feels like you've risked everything to build a boat and you don't see any clouds. 

  God is here, and God is faithful.