Rain
I am sitting on my couch watching rain fall outside my window for the fourth time in this week. The consistent soft dripping of raindrops meant to nourish the green earth from this morning have fully shifted into a fierce wind and water storm. Trees now swaying, branches breaking, and the flood plain behind my home littered with new ponds and sloughs. The relentlessly downpour threatens to wash away the hillside behind my home and tumble century old trees to the ground. The sky and ground both oversaturated and unable to take in any more moisture. The rain persists.
As I listen to the wind and water from the safety of my home. I am protected and secure. The muddy hill my house sits on slopes away from the foundation. The water from the sky is stopped by my roof. The trees reside to distant to crash through my walls when they fall. In this safe place, I ponder what hearty meal to enjoy from my fully stocked refrigerator. Thankful the trek from my couch to kitchen is short, my stomach settles on chicken pot pie with butternut squash soup.
NOURISHING FOOD
And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
— Genesis 6:19-22 —
Noah was a man who also weathered a wind and water storm. Like me, he watched the storm from the safety of his home. But unlike my short trek from my couch to a well stocked fridge for pie and soup, Noah put in a lot more time and effort to ensure he would be safe, dry, and fed in his storm. Where I sat in an already constructed home, Noah had to build a floating ark to house a city of animals created to roam in wilderness in a time where rain was an unknown mystery.
Where I walked ten steps to grab a single warm meal for dinner one night, Noah had to gather food and store it up for all the days he would spend on the ark. Forty days of rain followed by another half year of waiting for the rain to recede before stepping off the boat. That’s a lot of food! Food not just for him, but for his family living on the boat and all the animals residing in the floating barn stalls within it. Food coming not from a refrigerator shelf via a grocery store but from trekking through fields harvesting grains, gathering fruits, and digging up vegetation. Unlike the garden of Eden already past, the food was not readily and easily available on trees. Unlike the post Red Sea days in the wilderness yet to come, the food did not fall freely from the sky as manna. Noah, in his obedience gave his time, resources, and effort to gather this food.
TIME- On top of constructing a boat house of titanic size, Noah was tasked with spending what little spare time remained to gather food for his family and companion city of animals.
RESOURCES- The world was full of evil, significantly limiting the number of skilled workers who could reliably and trustworthily come alongside Noah and his family to accomplish these enormous tasks.
EFFORT- Harvesting grains, fruits, and vegetables is no easy task. Especially when done by hand. Their hands calloused and backs sore from the sparse physical rest margin available.
WEEPING RAIN
Inside the ark, food was present. Noah carried it in on his back long before the rain began. The harvest nourishing the bodies of Noah’s family and God’s creation so they could physically survive their months long journey in a boat. Outside the ark, rain fell from the sky. Blotting rain washing away the evil and fallen pieces of the world. Persistent downpours blocking the sunlight and drowning the life out of all that remained outside the ark.
The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth….And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. — Genesis 7:17, 24
For forty days the incessant drip of rain fell as God’s tears mourning the loss of something loved and valued. Like blotting up red wine from a new white rug, drop by painful drop, the act (like Noah gathering food) takes time and effort. Diligence and perseverance. Blotting to erase all the sin and all the brokenness.
God mourning the loss of so much of His good and perfect creation because it turned sour and morphed into something no longer a part of Him. His pool of sorrow aching with the knowledge He in His mighty power could have commanded it all back to His side. Grieving for so many because He loved, but His love was one sided.
Followed by six months of oversaturated soaking. The soaking after the tears suffocating hearts void of love in the waves of a sea now crashing below the ark. Drowning to soak up all the mess. His plan was for whole heart love needed to triumph over evil needed to win.
The blotting done to erase what can be seen, the soaking to ensure even the deepest stain does not survive and resurface.
Because heaven was designed to be filled bigger than big by generations of ONLY those who loved Him back WHOLE-heartedly. Because Jesus needed to be wholly human for God’s redemption plan to succeed. He needed a fully human mom from a fully human generational line God to win and His Dad knew the world was on the brink of losing this line.
NOURISHING RAIN
Outside the ark, rain fell from the sky, bringing life to those residing in the boat. God blotted and washed away the evil who held no love for Him. His wailing love eliminated all that was already lost. By wiping out the parts of creation no longer authentically reflecting God’s image and living out His mission, something bigger was saved.
In God’s good glory, this never before seen rain falling from the sky was not only tears lamenting the loss of something once loved. It also nourished the souls of God’s people left in its’ wake with life.
Rain sent Noah and his family into the ark. Dwelling In the ark, Noah was safe. Wrapped in His Father’s arms, he remained dry and fed all the days of the rainstorm.
Resting in the ark, Noah was held tight, unable to step outside into the loss surrounding Him. God comforted him with His love as he heard the tears mourning the loss of something loved and valued beating on the ark’s doors.
Sitting within the resin sealed wood, Noah was protected from the dangerous path trying to consume him. God sustained him with His presence as he saw the grief of so many lost running off the deck of the boat, blocking the sunlight from above.
Walking through the lower deck feeding the animal, Noah stayed steadfast as the waves tried to rock him off his feet. God protected him with His might as he witnessed the aching sorrow of needing to use His power to destroy so much to ensure heaven remained soaking into the walls of the boat.
In this safe place, we see God’s tears mourning something lost. But we also see His plan for love triumph over evil succeed. God’s flooding outside the ark saved who loved Him inside it. God’s love no longer predominantly one sided. With all the fallen angels and wicked people gone, only Noah and his family, who had always loved Him back remained.
unlike the harvest Noah carried onto the boat, This rain did not nourish a rumbling stomach on the brink of dying from starvation.
Rather it was liquid grace falling from heaven to nourish a dying breed on the brink of destruction.
The rain left in its’ wake a sunrise. The lineage leading to Jesus remaining unmarred by fallen angels and wicked people. The wine stained white rug soaked clean again. The Way for the Son to Rise preserved.
