The Story of Noah Ep. 2 - Choices

What if this flood of water does not come upon the earth? Noah was wondering. What if my family and I are struggling to build this big expensive ark and gather so many supplies for us and all these species of animals and birds that are to come to the ark and it's all for nothing? Hi kids, and welcome to the second episode of our amazing journey in the life of Noah. During the previous episode, we went back through Noah's family tree to discover who his ancestors were, like his parents and grandparents. By doing this, we are better able to understand more about what it was like for Noah's family to live back then. We found out how the people of Noah's time, who the Bible described as being giants, were very powerful people who made many wrong choices and turned away from God. They upset God so much that He regretted having created humans. And what's more, God decided that He would wipe humans off the face of the earth, along with animals, birds, and all the creatures that moved along the ground. Do you realize how serious their sin was for them to receive such a terrible punishment? But in the midst of these wicked people, there was Noah, a man who obeyed God, and that's exactly why God had mercy on Noah and his family. But do you know how Noah was different from those around him? In Genesis 6-9, the Bible tells us what was so special about Noah. It says, Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. In other words, Noah was different from other people because of the fact that he stayed close to God while all the others fell away. And he taught his family to follow God as well, including his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now, remember, because of sin an awful thing was about to happen, so the Lord revealed His plan to Noah with the desire to save him from the upcoming punishment. God told Noah, Because the earth is full of violence and people are becoming more and more proud and evil every day, I have decided that I will destroy the earth along with everything on it, people, animals, and even birds. The decision is made. There is no turning back. As for you, God continued, I want to save you because you have remained obedient all this time. In order to make it out alive, you'll have to build a big boat, an ark. Pay attention, for I will give you all the details for the construction of this ark. Then the Lord God continued with specific instructions. Make the ark of cypress wood. You will divide the ark into small rooms inside, and when you have finished building it, you will coat it with pitch both inside and outside. The ark will be 450 feet long, 45 feet high, and 75 feet wide. That's longer than a football field. Wow! Can you imagine that? What a big boat! God continued by saying, Around the top of the ark, you have to make a window about two feet wide. You'll also put a door in the side of the ark. Last but not least, the ark should have three floors, one at the bottom, one in the middle, and one at the top. You wonder why you need this ark? God asked Noah, I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish, but I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark and be saved, you, your family, and all the animals that will be with you in it. God had promised Noah. You may be wondering what a flood is. Well, God was going to bring rain over the whole earth for many, many, many days without the rain stopping. No man, no animal, and no bird could survive the amount of rain that would fill the earth. Then God told Noah, After you finish building the ark, get inside it with your family, you and your sons, and your wife and your sons' wives with you. Also, you are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. At the same time, you are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them to last you throughout the flood. From this food supply, you will feed yourself, your family, and all the animals that will be with you on the ark. This ask was no small thing to build. There was so much to do for Noah and his family. And for what? Oh, right, for a big flood. You know what was even more interesting? In his lifetime, Noah never saw rain before. And now God was commanding him to build an ark because he had told him that a flood of waters was coming. It must have been pretty hard for everyone to believe. Everything God had commanded now seemed ridiculous to anyone who heard about it. Noah must have been thinking to himself, what if this flood of water does not come upon the earth? What if my family and I are struggling to build this big, expensive ark and gather so many supplies for us and all these species of animals and birds that are to come to the ark and it's all for nothing? Besides, Noah continued thinking to himself, I certainly can't build the ark in secret without anyone noticing. It's far too big and far too obvious to go unnoticed. That's true of anything God has asked me to do. I certainly won't have the support of those around me. I'm surrounded by people who have defied God and turned completely away from him. They probably don't believe in God at all, let alone what he says. No one will believe me when I tell them about the flood and what lies ahead, Noah concluded. This news of the flood seemed more like a fairy tale or maybe even a bad dream. Noah could hardly believe it himself. So telling those around him was an even bigger challenge. Noah faced a difficult choice. He could believe and obey God or choose to go on with his quiet and happy life. Oh, how easy it would have been to do nothing. But Noah chose to obey God. The Bible says that Noah chose to do everything God commanded him to do. Choices, choices, and more choices. The people of Noah's day turned away from God as a consequence of wrong choices. God now commanded Noah to build an ark, gather food for the journey, and bring onto the ark a pair of each species of animals and birds. And Noah, even with his doubts, chose to obey. The people around Noah laughed at him. I mean, the man had begun to build an ark for a flood that was to come when they had never even seen a drop of rainfall from the sky. Everyone thought Noah was crazy. Still, Noah chose to believe and obey God regardless of how difficult the journey ahead was. Even though it was hard to believe that a so-called flood was coming, even though Noah and his family had spent all their money building this ark and gathering supplies for the journey, Noah chose to trust God's instructions. Yes, life is made up of lots of choices. We have a series of choices to make every day, from the small and insignificant to the important and hard choices. But remember, no matter what you hear around you, make sure you listen to God. Noah couldn't choose on behalf of the people around him. He couldn't force anyone into the ark with him, but he could choose for himself. You and I also have a choice. We can choose to listen to the voices of those around us, or we can choose to listen to one voice, the voice of God. Noah's adventure with God becomes more and more exciting. Will the flood come as God predicted? What will happen to Noah? What will happen to the people around Noah? Will others believe him and join him on the ark? Join us in the next episode of Noah's Life. You can also find our series in audio format on most podcast apps. We invite you to check out the Noah in the Ark original song on our DG Bible Songs channel on YouTube, where we frequently post Christian songs and animations for children.