Noah and the Rain

Genesis 6-9

Noah was a man of God
In a time when no one else was.
Against all pressures
Amid ridicule,
He kept his faith.

God saw in Noah a faithful servant,
And a way to start again.
God had been rejected by his creation.
Evil filled the earth,
And it could not continue.

Noah, build an ark.
Make it a large as I tell you
Follow my instructions to the letter.

Noah looked at his sons.
“What’s an ark?”

Noah, gather all the animals.
I will save you, your family,
And enough animals to start again.
Rain will come, and destroy everything else.

Noah looked at his sons.
“What is rain?”

But Noah did was God commanded him to do.
Those around him, sometimes even his sons,
Laughed at him.
Sometimes he laughed at himself.
He finally convinced himself that maybe this was a test.
A test of his faith.
Maybe it was a way for God to convince his people,
To change their ways.
Surely God did not intend to destroy the earth.
He questioned, but he built.
In the end, he had an ark,
Filled with his family,
Filled with noisy, stinking animals.

When the time came,
God slammed the door behind them.
It’s closure, so full of determination,
Finality,
Abject sadness,
Reverberated through the ark,
Each board shook from the sound.
Every animal became quiet.

And it began to rain.
The water fell in pounding, relentless handfuls.
Thrown from above to strike the earth.
Thunder boomed as lightning crashed through the sky.
This was no shower.
This was a mighty storm,
Engineered by God himself.

With the water fell fear.
Noah now knew that God would not change his mind,
He prayed that the boat would hold.

Those around the ark, outside of its protection,
Those who had jeered at Noah,
Now began to pound on its wood.
And to scream.

Noah, who was a kind and gentle man,
Tried to open the door.
“Maybe we can save a few of them.”
But God had shut it,
And it would not open again.

Water flooded the earth,
Destroying all life.
The ark, with a horrendous groaning,
Was lifted by the water.
Lifted up above the destruction.
The flood of devastation
Was carrying them.

Noah and his family
Sank to their knees,
Covered their heads,
Trying to block out the noise,
Hoping to block out the fear.
Praying.

For forty days the rain fell
Pounded against the earth.
As if God had released all of his anguish.
All of his disappointment,
All of his anger,
Against the evil in his creation.

When the rain stopped,
Noah looked at his sons,
“Do you hear that? What is it?”

It was silence.

Eventually, the waters receded.
The ark landed,
And God allowed them to leave their floating protection.
The world glistened like something new.
Polished.
Cleansed.

A rainbow crossed the sky,
Brilliant in its colors,
Illuminated from within by God.
A promise
A covenant.
Painted with God’s steadfast love.

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