Are You a Prepper?

We’ve all heard the story of Noah’s Ark, even if you weren’t brought up in children’s church, where the story is taught in a very animated way. But there was nothing funny about Noah’s situation. Genesis 5 tells us that the earth was violent and corrupt, that God even regretted the creation of man. Noah and his family were the only ones that were righteous and God made him a promise. Build an ark for his family and all the animals because He was going to flood the earth, but allow Noah to have a way out. I can’t find anywhere in the bible where it said that Noah’s friends laughed at him, or questioned what he was doing, but I can’t imagine they didn’t. The ark was huge…it’s not like he could have built it in his backyard, hidden by a fence. But being the Godly man that he was, he obeyed every command of the Lord, building the boat to His divine specs. God had told him His plan and Noah was preparing for when that day came.  

If we are to survive the great floods of this life, we must prepare. I’m not suggesting you start Googling gopher wood, but as we see in Noah’s life, preparation began with obedience. We saw this with Abraham too, when God asked him to sacrifice his son. When every fiber of his being must have cried out in agony, he prepared for the journey and headed up the mountain with his son anyway. We don’t see the big picture like God does and all He’s looking for is someone who will follow His lead WITHOUT question. What if Noah had cut corners on the ark? What if he hadn’t followed God’s design? We throw a monkey wrench in God’s perfect plans when we try to weave our ways in with His ways; the result is usually not pleasing. In the book Philippians, author Joyce Meyer writes, “Obedience is the path to a powerful life, but it must be full and complete obedience, not partial obedience.” 

Obedience might mean doing things that others find strange, things that will cause them to ridicule you. I can imagine Noah might have felt really alone at times, maybe even questioning God’s plan. On the day that he closed the doors of the ark and God brought the rain, I’m guessing all those who made fun of him were wishing they hadn’t…wishing they’d lived a better life, like Noah. When you find yourself all alone, feeling like you’re living for the Lord with no support or back-up plan, know that God sees you, supports you and has your back. Another ‘what if’ question…what if Noah had quit because of the chatter around town that he’d lost his marbles? When we can get to a point in our lives where the opinions of others don’t rattle us, we have more time to focus on what God thinks of us…in the end, that’s ALL that is going to matter. We know what He thought of Noah…and we know what He thought of the OTHERS. Pastor has said before, “I’d rather live in the stink than perish in the storm.” Don’t be an OTHER!