floods of change

Lots of things happening within the Banks family these days. Lots of changes. With Chris getting married, Geoff heading to Estonia, Kari and Kaci looking toward Missouri, Tim graduating… There’s a lot going on.

Several of us have started the 2012 read-through-the-Bible-in-five-days-a-week (the printout reading list can be found here). Reading about Noah and the flood seemed to tie in with all the recent going-ons and got me thinking about our own little deluge — our flood of change.

So, yeah. Noah and change. It was a long time from normal till the next time he felt normal. He started out a “man of the soil”, but by the time he planted his next vineyard he’d been a ship-builder, animal-handler, ark-packer, flood-survivor, bird-watcher, altar-setter-upper, sacrifice-sacrificer and rainbow-noticer.  Only then did Noah get to be a man of the soil again. Only then, after doing a lot of things he would never have dreamed of doing, did he find himself back in a place where he really knew how to function — in a field, a vineyard.

It took time. All change and transition and adjusting takes time. There were only forty bad days and nights of the actual storm, but for Noah, there were years between fields. And life’s just like that, the actual storms, the actual things that change — certain events, gains or losses, finding yourself in a new environment — those things only last a short while compared to the time it takes to go from one normal to finally feeling normal again. We think of transition like it’s A – B, but in reality it’s more like A – Z with all the other letters in between before you can get back around to another A.

There are some really cool things about this story as it relates to how God moves us from where we’re comfortable and through times of change. But before all that it’s good to look closer at the kind of person Noah was to begin with. I find especially interesting the three different tasks that God gave Noah to do just before it all began, before everything got really crazy. These tasks tell us a lot about who Noah was, what kind of attitude he had and why God chose him to do something and be someone great. Looking a little deeper might also shed some light on who we need to be too, if we want to do great things for God. And doing great things, being part of God’s greater plans, is going to take changing and transitioning for all of us, starting from the inside with who we are.

Noah’s first task was to build an ark — something completely foreign to him and something that must have been a difficult prospect for a non ship-builder. For instance, there’s a lot of math involved in putting a giant boat together (that will float). That’s a lot of calculations for a farmer. And that’s a lot of wood to haul for an old guy.

Sometimes God’s greater plans require something from us that’s completely out of our comfort zone and downright hard, maybe a little weird, but definitely overwhelming. Like physics for a farmer. But God didn’t just tell Noah, “Build yourself an ark and hope to goodness that it floats.” He gave him all the calculations and all the details he’d need to do the work well. Inside God’s greater plans and the difficult tasks he gives us are always, always, provisions for the places we’re weak. Where we’re weak, he’s strong. And why? Because bigger things are going on than just us and what we’re good or not good at. God takes our best and makes up for the rest.

So, 1) Noah was willing to follow directions and work hard.

The second thing that Noah had to do must have seemed totally impossible: “Once you’ve got the boat finished, get two of every kind of animal and get them into it.” I can imagine Noah’s eyes crossing a little and then him blinking once or twice at the idea of becoming the first Crocodile Hunter at 600 years old. Sheepherder… horse-breaker… lion tamer? It would be the world’s first circus and the world’s first zoo. He was a farmer… Every kind of animal? Into the ark?

Beyond the difficult and complicated, sometimes in the middle of God’s greater plans the impossible is asked of us. “You want me to go where?” “You want me to do what?” We’re called to lead without people, to travel without money, to share with nothing to give, to love when we hurt the most. To forgive. To have faith. To do the impossible. But what makes this story so great is not how much impossible Noah did but how much impossible God did. And with us, too, the impossible things that God asks us to do really have nothing to do with us. Noah didn’t end up having to go get the animals, the animals came to Noah. And with us, the people, the money, something to share, love to give… Whatever “impossible” in our situation is will come to us, whatever fits in with God’s greater plans. With God all things are possible, certainly the things he asks us to do.

2) Noah let God take care of the impossible stuff.

The third thing that God asked Noah to do was something that Noah could do, his comfort zone inside his non-comfort zone, but it must have seemed the most tedious, the smallest part of the whole operation to save mankind. Nobody remembers that Noah had to stock the ark.

Food. Noah knew food. He was a man of the soil. The world around him was going crazy, and his life was about to go bottoms up, but for all the things he didn’t know Noah was a farm guy and he knew at least what would grow and how much each person would need and what would keep the animals alive from day to day. He knew the kinds of things that would store and how to keep them. He did know food.

Funny how God uses little things to accomplish his greater plans; little details, things we’d overlook. We want God to use this thing or that thing about us — our special abilities or a talent we think he must have given us to do something great. We want to shine. How interesting then to realize that God mostly does all the big amazing stuff (he’s God — that’s the way it should be) and we get to do little things… like stock the ark. Or make another meal for our kids. Or teach another class. Or see another patient. Or read another book. Or get up and go to work. Or take another exam. We were made for greatness, we want to change the world, but it ends up being a little hard work and consistent focus on doing the next right thing that end up being the foundation for what God really wants to do through us. The little kindnesses, the small disciplines, taking care of others’ basic needs… Really it’s not about God doing something great with our life, it’s about how our life fits in with God’s greater plans. Noah gathered carrots for the rabbits, dried and stacked grass for the rhinos and measured out corn for his family. And that’s why we have rabbits and rhinos today. And people.

3) Noah was willing to do small, unexciting things.

So, three tasks:

1. Follow God’s directions to the letter. Or the number.
2. Trust God to do the impossible stuff. He’ll bring you what you need.
3. Just keep doing well what you know to do. Through those small things you might end up saving somebody.

So that’s the person Noah was. And when God looks out over the whole world, that’s the kind of person he’s looking for to work his greater plans through today.

Awesome, hey? But then… what about when things actually start to happen? What then? Big and exciting is nice in theory, but typically it’s more unsettling than anything. What do we do when change actually comes?

Following God’s directions, trusting him, doing our part to live like he wants us to, that’s what God is looking for. But being that person isn’t going to keep away the storms of life. In fact, quite the opposite. It’s through the storms in life that God is able to work his greater plans. Just like Noah, God didn’t choose him so he could give someone a stormless life. God chose him because he knew that he was going to make it through the storm. Being who we need to be to start out with won’t keep the floods away, but being that kind of person will increase our buoyancy. Somehow when the storms come, we’ll stay just above them. We’ll float.

Floating. That’s what it feels like for a while when you move to a new place or lose a dream or are just getting started in a new job. The big change comes and then… you just float for a while. Nothing’s stable, nothing feels for sure. And sometimes that feeling lasts a long time.

We think of the flood like… “The Flood”. But it was more than just rain and storm for forty days and forty nights. Noah was in the ark for what must have seemed like forever. Actually, it was more than a year, a year for a “man of the soil” to be stuck in a confined space with camels, goats, rats… and his family. Five months of it was floating, but even when things seemed a little more firm and concrete and life had settled a bit, it was another five months after that before he could even start looking for something better.

We don’t always realize when God’s greater plans are happening right around us. In fact, when some of the greatest things imaginable are going on, that’s when we feel stuck. We look around, there’s no going back to the way things were and it seems like there’s no going forward either. We’re stuck just like Noah. Floating… for forever. “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.” And that’s the good news. When we feel stuck, when we’re just floating, God remembers us and is doing something even when we don’t see it yet.

God did remember Noah, and he sent a wind (a wind of good change), and little by little the flood went away. Noah was patient — that complete trust that God would do the impossible was still there, even after the storm. He kept working hard. He kept feeding the animals. Before he knew it the ground was dry and the flood was gone. Noah left the ark with his family and all the life that had made it through the storm, and he thanked God. And God was pleased. And the world was new. And it was theirs.

And Noah planted a field.

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