Thursday, April 21, 2005

God shut the door

"In the beginning God."
(Genesis 1:1)
&
"And God shut the door behind them."
(Genesis 7:18)



This is the foundation of all that we do for God. For if God is not at the beginning of all that we do, then what we do is not really for Him and will not produce any eternal fruit. Jesus said that apart from Him we could do nothing (see Jn. 15).

At the same time this offers us substance for hope and evidence for the unseen. All one has to know is that in the beginning God. When fears, worries, anxieties, doubts, discouraging moments come my way and crowd out faith, bringing confusion to my mind, all I really have to remember is in the beginning God. If God was in the beginning, then God is still there in the now and will carry it on until completion (see Phil. 1:6). No doubt, we can make wrong choices and detour from His perfect plan and purpose for our lives, ministry, etc., but when our sights are set, and doubt and the like come in I need not waver. He is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, my Substance and my Strength. Jesus lead on I will follow.

This was the case with Noah. It had never rained on the earth, yet God tells Noah to go make a giant floating umbrella. Noah was preparing for something that had never been. Imagine the conversation he had with his wife that night after God first spoke… But the in the beginning it was the Word of God that had spoken.

Scripture tells us that,
“Noah did all that God had commanded him to do”
(Genesis 6:22).
God spoke, Noah responded, and then God acted. Genesis tells us that after all the animals, Noah and his family entered the ark that “the LORD shut the door” (Genesis 7:18). In between the Word of God and the Act of God, is the obedience of a person, a GodWalker.

Often we get excited about a word God has spoken to us regarding something He wills to do. Unfortunately, the excitement is all we ever get, for all too often we never build the “ark” that will keep us when the Word is put in motion. It is our very obedience to the Word spoken that builds a house of character, that enables us to see the Act of God come.

Are there Words God has spoken to you? How far did you get into the building of your “ark”? It may be time to pick up the hammer…

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