{"id":1450,"date":"2023-08-23T04:39:51","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T09:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/?p=1450"},"modified":"2023-08-23T05:03:16","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T10:03:16","slug":"a-ship-on-dry-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/2023\/08\/23\/a-ship-on-dry-land\/","title":{"rendered":"A Ship on Dry Land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn\u2019t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved\u2026 Hebrews 11:7[1<\/a>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The classic story of Noah\u2019s ark weaves through many cultures around the world and across millennia. But beyond the saga presented on movie screens, through Bible studies, and in a big tourist attraction, that epic pulls heaven and earth together in a tight braid of timeless wisdom vs. moral goofiness and invisible vs. visible truth. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Noah\u2019s Ark also presents a towering example of how things are rarely what they seem. Let\u2019s look at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The focal point of the story is a ship sitting on dry land. Look at how it imposes a silent but disruptive image. Profoundly countercultural\u2014out of sync with, and challenging to, everything\u2014Noah\u2019s ship had no flow with its environment. None. It was built in one time and place but would only work in a distant future no one had seen or considered. As we zoom out, we see a massive disaster racing like a tsunami below the surface. It’s moving toward us and all we cherish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since no one could see the storm coming, a farmer building a 500-foot-long ship in his pasture probably suggested he was insane. He was apparently the only person on earth who built a ship \u201cin the middle of dry land.\u201d His neighbors probably joked about how he would drag that thing to the beach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess no one thought about water rushing to the ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corrupt to the Core<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s assessment of the earth was stark: \u201cAs far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting\u2014life itself corrupt to the core. God said to Noah, \u2018It\u2019s all over. It\u2019s the end of the human race. The violence is everywhere; I\u2019m making a clean sweep.\u2019\u201d (Genesis 6:11-13)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Creator, who so loved the earth, held those thoughts, you know it was bad. Very bad. Beyond bad. No breezes of spiritual renewal, no prophetic voices, no fresh thinking, and no hope. \u201cCorrupt to the core.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We too live in a sewer. The toxic streams of injustice, poverty, violence, lust, nihilism, etc. all flow into our water supply. So, why doesn\u2019t God just \u201cfix it?\u201d Maybe because He thinks in terms of generations, eons, seasons, and seeds. Every seed carries entire orchards or forests. The Lord plays the long game. The very long game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeds of the Future<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Genesis 6:8 says, \u201cNoah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.\u201d Because God liked the guy, he warned him about things coming that could not be seen. And Noah acted on that. So, of all the people on earth, God only disclosed his heart to one person, a man who lived by faith\u2014total confidence in God\u2019s purposes and promises. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God seemed more interested in saving Noah and his family than in rescuing the corrupt world. He would have a conduit for His seed that would produce a magnificent future. So, in His conversations with Noah, His words fell as seeds into Noah\u2019s fertile and willing heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When those seeds came up, they caused the man to complete a grueling, audacious, and historic construction project. As a true visionary, he built something that had no apparent purpose. Because Noah aligned with the heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16), he had to build with none of the earth\u2019s cultural and financial support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lines of conflict were dramatic, literally \u201cearth shaking.\u201d The population of the earth comprised one team. God and Noah formed the other one. Then the future dropped into the soil of one human life. Even as neighbors mocked Noah, seeds cracked open below the surface. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, suddenly, one day, rain<\/em> revealed the only sane person on earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> All scriptures quoted are taken from THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH (TM): Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH, copyright \u00a91993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn\u2019t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved\u2026 Hebrews 11:7[1] The classic story of Noah\u2019s ark weaves through many cultures around the world and across millennia. But beyond the saga […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"We all live in the tension between reality and our perceptions. What we see is often NOT important or true. Yet we become heavily invested in our interpretation. So, what if we could take the time to gaze thoughtfully at the hidden-in-plain-sight mysteries in everything around us? %%post_excerpt%%","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[258,260,158,141,225,261],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1450"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1470,"href":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions\/1470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coolriverpub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}