Today's Devotional

November 20, 2002

Subject:  Lessons From The Ark - Work

Genesis 6:14 - "Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch." 

Of course we know that Noah was a righteous man before God when the rest of the world was destroyed for wickedness.  But righteous in God's eyes entails more than we generally mean when we say righteous.  We think of righteous people as the "church-goers" or the people who stand in the pulpit on Sundays, or the person who seems to be able to spout off verses at the drop of a hat.  Of course these could all be qualities of a righteous person, but one of the key character traits of godly men, women, boys and girls is their work ethic.  Remember what God said in 2Thessalonians 3:10 - "...this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat."

Noah was a worker.  He had to be because the task set before him required much hard labor.  He had to not only build the ark, but gather the animals, feed them, clean up after them and everything else that comes with running a zoo and a home.  However, his labor, like ours, is never in vain.  It is always for our good and not for the good of he/she for whom we appear to labor.  Additionally, can we ever know in the big scheme of things when our very act of labor could save us as it did Noah?  Of course he knew that he was preparing a vessel for the salvation of him and his family.

Perhaps your work is where God has you and could in fact be used to not only save you out of some dire situation, but to save others also.  Your office space, classroom, or other work area could be your ark.  God has given you the provision, now go to work and "feed" the animals" on board.

Carlen