Musings about Noah and the Ark...
First off, please pardon the play on words. Several translations of the Bible transliterate a Hebrew word in Genesis chapter six as "gopher wood". This is the wood from which Noah was to build the famous ark that would preserve terrestrial life on earth. Although many speculate that it is a variety of cypress, no one knows for sure. Anyway, please stay with me...
God told Noah to build an ark that measured approximately 450 feet long by 75 feet wide by 45 feet high. He was to make it of "gopher wood" and then cover it with pitch inside and out.
Here are some calculations you may never have stopped to consider.
-The surface area of the walls required 94,500 board feet of lumber at 2 inch thickness.
-The surface area of the roof, bottom and decks required at least 270,000 board feet of lumber at 2" thickness.
-If my math is correct, by the time bracing and interior walls are calculated, the total amount of lumber to construct such an ark could well have exceeded 729,000 board feet.
That is a lot of lumber.
Here is the thing...
We always look at the fantastic beginning of the story of Noah, and we look at the climatic ending where Noah and company ride out the flood, find land and disembark from the ark. What we often forget is the 120 years that passed between the beginning of the story and the actual flood. That's right 120 years.
During that time the real work was done.
Someone had to "go for wood"!
Someone had to carry pitch.
Somebody had body odor.
Someone ruined his clothes.
Somebody had blisters and sore hands.
Somebody was laughed at.
and then, once they were finished...
The ark was ugly! Noah's masterpiece looked like a large tar paper box! It was not sleek. It did not have masts or a mainsail. There isn't even mention of a rudder or tiller. It was a big ugly barge.
Now, have you ever noticed, my Christian friend, how often God gives us a task and we dive into it with enthusiasm and anticipation...and then we somehow get lost when we "go for wood"?
Distractions abound in our world, but we can't afford to wander off. Faithfulness is essential, day in and day out. Noah, at least, got it right. How do we know? Well, centuries later, God saw fit to brag on him a little in Hebrews 11:7...
"By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in
reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By
this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that
comes by faith."ESV
Hebrews chapter eleven is God's brag book. In one sense, the addendum to Hebrews chapter eleven is still be written in the heavens. I certainly hope that someday my name is also found there in that list of God's faithful servants.
