As I was reading Genesis again, I realized something I didn’t notice before. It was the story of Noah. God had decided to destroy the earth because of its wickedness but Noah found favour with the Lord. Thus, the Lord told Noah to build an ark. Sound familiar right? But read on in Gen 6:18-19:

“But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark - you, your sons, your wife and your son’s wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of eveyr sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.”

Sounds like God gave Noah quite a task isn’t it? But look at what God said before that. He established a covenant with Noah, or an ever-lasting relationship and promise. Only after that, God required Noah to do some work. Alot of work in fact. He wanted Noah to bring two of every living creature onto the ark, not just any two, but a male and a female. Why? In order to preserve their species.

Now the question is: Couldn’t God have simply recreated them after the flood?

Sure He could. But He chose not to work that way. He deliberately chose Noah to accomplish the same result. A much more difficult and tedious journey to say the least, but that was how God chose to do it! This demonstrates a fundamental principle of how God works. There will be much easier ways of achieving the same results, but God seldom chooses the easiest way out. He chooses the way that is most beneficial for the training of His children.

Do you think it was easy for Noah to gather a pair of EVERY living creature into a small ark? How much effort did it take to feed everyone of them in the ark? What about the noise? Even worse, the smell? I really don’t think the ark was anything like a 5-star hotel. It was probably more like a farm, except enclosed, stuffy and packed. Do you think Noah might have asked himself the same question: Why couldn’t God just made the animals again after the flood? I’m sure he did.

However as with any calling of God, it comes with commands that sometimes we don’t understand or appreciate. But Noah did it anyway. He recognized that God has given him a sacred responsibility of maintaining the survival of every living creature created before the flood. So Noah fulfilled his calling obediently and trusted God.

We will never know what God hoped to accomplish by choosing to work through Noah. But one thing is sure, He had a plan, a great and perfect plan and Noah was part of it. Not a small part but a major part of it. Was Noah indespensible to God? Surely not. But He chose to use him regardless and I know that God still continues to use us to work out His perfect plans even though He could do it by Himself. At the end of the day, I believe that Noah came out of the ark with a greater measure of patience, obedience and faith in God if not anything else because of the animals living within the ark.