Here in Genesis 7, Noah enters the ark. Then, the rains came down and the floods came up.
First, some quick thoughts on verse 2. Noah took both clean and unclean animals into the ark. I’ve heard various discussions about this, so I’m going to address this verse first. Why include the unclean animals on the ark at all…and why have less of them than the clean animals? First of all, clean/unclean does not translate as good/bad. It simply defines which animals are good for human consumption and which are not. Also, it stands to reason that they brought more of the clean animals for A) food and B) sacrifice as the clean animals are the only ones ok for sacrifice.
Now that those thoughts are out of the way, let’s dig into what grabbed my attention in this chapter.
First, Noah got all the way to the end of his life. He’d probably spent a lifetime envisioning how the twilight years of his life were going to play out. Perhaps he’d settle down and retire somewhere near the golf course. Perhaps he’d devote his later years to teaching his craft to his kids and grandkids. What was his craft you ask? No idea. His entire pre-600-year-old life is lost to history, aside from the noteworthy three words “walked with God” in chapter 6:9 and the fact that he had some kids. There’s a lot I can learn from that little fact. No one knows what Noah’s occupation was. We don’t know what his dreams were, what his aspirations were, or what his career accomplishments were. What do we know about Noah? He was a boat-builder and humanity’s first sailor. Well, not really. What we know about Noah was that did what God asked him to do, diligently; and, God used him as a boat-builder and sailor.
Here’s my takeaway from Genesis 7. Genesis 7 tells me that there is no time in life that I can get comfortable. God may use me when I’m a kid walking around in the midst of a crowd with a couple fish and loaves of bread. Or, God may ask me to build the Titanic when I’m old and tired and retired. Age is no excuse for saying “no” to God. I realize the following information is secular in nature; but my point is that, if age isn’t limiting in the modern economy, it sure isn’t limiting in God’s economy.
Colonel Sanders started KFC at age 62. (https://www.kfc.co.uk/colonels-story)
Grandma Moses began painting at age 78. (https://nmwa.org/art/artists/grandma-moses-anna-mary-robertson-moses)
Fauja Singh took up running at the age of 89. He is believed to be the oldest man to complete a marathon at age 100. (https://olympics.com/en/news/who-is-fauja-singh-oldest-indian-origin-british-marathon-runner)
Peter Mark Roget: In 1852, Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases was published for the first time. Roget was 73 years old at the time. It would become the most widely used English language thesaurus. New editions are still being published to this day. (https://nyamcenterforhistory.org/2015/03/17/roget-beyond-the-thesaurus/)
Mohr Keet began bungee jumping at the age of 88. He became the world’s oldest bungee jumper in 2010 at the age of 96. (https://www.news24.com/news24/mohr-93-breaks-world-record-20060920 and https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/oldest-bungee-jumper)
Laura Ingalls Wilder began writing Little House on the Prairie at age 65. (https://littlehouseontheprairie.com/history-timeline-of-laura-ingalls-wilder/)
My point is this: much like Sarah laughed when God told her she was to have a child at age 100, we too often laugh when God asks big things of us at far younger ages. This year and this time wasn’t given to the heroes of old of the Bible. It was given to you. It was given to me. It was given to us. Don’t be afraid to allow God to use you to do big things outside of your comfort zone.
I can’t help but add another AI rap summary. Why? Because this is my therapy session, and these utterly ridiculous raps bring me joy.
I enjoyed your riffing here on never being too old or young to be an instrument of God. I know as a younger person I was a lot more tolerant (by necessity) of regular upheaval in my life. It was kind of exciting, too: never knowing for sure where I would be working in the next few months, or if I would have a relationship, or where I would live. It was also stressful and exhausting and I very gratefully moved on to a more stable and predictable life (though when I think about it, which I avoid doing, it is the height of absurdity to fancy you can ever predict your life.)
Sometimes I do think nostalgically about about my youth and that romantic feeling that anything or anyone could change my life. I wonder if I’ve become too set in my ways. Your essay reminds me that I can’t totally forget how to approach life in uncertainty: I may need that energy again.