Cabin Fever on Noah's Ark

Imagine being confined inside with the same people for 150 days. Not just the same people, but family. There are some things you would never say or do in front of friends or co-workers, but with family you have no problem letting your guard down.

Those annoying little habits, those little slips of the tongue, those momentary lapses in judgement may not get on their nerves during normal circumstances…but lock them inside the same ship with you for 30, 60, 90, 150 days and they might just be ready to jump overboard…or throw you overboard. That’s what Noah and his family had to endure inside the ark.

On top of that, think of the stink. The smell of sweat, the animals, hay, manure, and urine. The suffocating air of stench that must have permeated every nook and cranny of the ark. The restlessness of the animals and Noah’s family. 150 days without fresh air. 150 days of doing the same thing day in and day out. 40 days of talking about the weather, “Well…looks like rain again today,” followed by 110 days of wondering if they will ever see ground again. Yep, they had cabin fever.

Last week we looked at the life of Enoch, a man that walked with God. Enoch was the father of Methuselah, who was the father of Lamech, who was the father of Noah. The Bible tells us a little more about Noah than our previous two recipients of the Faith Hall of Fame.

While the world was wicked and corrupt, Genesis 6:8 says, “Noah, however, found favor in the sight of the Lord.” He found favor with God because he did everything God commanded of him.

God told Noah that He was about to destroy the entire world with water. Every man, woman, and child except for Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives. Not only the people, but God intended to destroy every animal except those that he sent to Noah to save. Their means of salvation was an ark. God designed it and gave the blueprints to Noah commanding him to build it.

Genesis 6:22, “And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.” Time and time again in the story about Noah, the phrase, “he did everything that God commanded,” is used. Noah obeyed God and that is why he is listed among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11.

⁷ By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (Hebrews 11:7, HCSB)

Noah Walked by Faith, Not by Sight

The first part of this verse shows us that Noah had enough faith to believe that God was going to destroy the world with a great flood. Something he had never witnessed with his eyes. Something he could not see coming. God said it would happen and Noah had enough godly fear that he trusted and obeyed.

Often throughout the bible the word fear is used to describe respect or awe. We tend to read the word fear and think that people only obeyed because they were afraid that not to obey meant they would be punished by God. Noah had enough respect and awe of God, he trusted that God would not lie to him, he believed that God would do as he said he would do, and therefore, he obeyed God’s commands. Can we walk by faith even if we have no idea what the future holds? 

Noah’s Faith Condemned the World

For 40 years Noah built an ark; enduring the ridicule of those around him. Some people say Noah preached those 40 years trying to win converts to join him, but the Bible doesn’t tell us that. God said that He was making a covenant with Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives. Period. I think Noah knew that this ark was not meant for anyone else. Not for his grandfather Methuselah. Not for his father, Lamech. Not for his friends or neighbors.

Imagine the mental anguish that Noah must have felt day after day as he built the ark. None of his friends or extended family would be saved. Think of how he felt as the door was shut by God and everyone he knew aside from his wife, sons, and their wives was left outside.

That is why Hebrews 11:7 says that Noah condemned the world by his faithfulness. Noah didn’t actually condemn anyone to death. God did that. But Noah knew, nonetheless, that obeying God would bring about the death of everyone he knew. Can we walk by faith even though our obedience is continuing to bring about God’s final judgment on the world?

What’s Your Story?

What’s the story of our church? We want our church to be healthy. We want our family to be loving. That takes work. We must guard our hearts to ensure that we are creating a positive and loving atmosphere, not creating problems. And we must protect the church body from people that are detrimental to the health and stability of the church.

It has been said that when two or three people get together in a church, you can bet that one of them is thinking about starting another church. People have a tough time getting along when things are great. Toss in a few problems and the relationships get stressed. We get restless when we spend a lot of time around the same people week after week. Sometimes people are just waiting for a lull in the storm to make a run for it.

Author Richard Broholm once said, “The church is a lot like Noah’s Ark—if not for the storm outside, you couldn’t stand the smell inside.” The smell in the church, the day in and day out problems that we must overcome and grow through, will occasionally be difficult to live with…but remember the storm outside.

In a healthy church, everyone understands that we occasionally need our space. We know that everyone has good and bad days. We realize that everyone grows at their own pace. Some of the animals on the ark were better suited to wide open spaces and suffered in the confined space. The same is true of humans. Some of us need more space, while some of us need to be around people. Some of us need more time to grow in our faith, while some grow quickly and wonder why others are so slow. Some of us need to be encouraged and goaded to work, while others are self-motivated.

As a church, we must watch out for these types of destructive people and pray that we are never one of them.

The Pharisees

The very nature of being a follower of Jesus is judicial. We must come to an understanding that we are sinners in need of a Savior. We confess our sins and God is faithful to forgive them and learn to walk in His ways. Because we are keenly aware of our failures we are often quick to see the failures of others as well.

The church, like the ark, can be a very close, confining place. And it gets even more crowded when others are judging everything about your life. Judicial people can be a pain and religious judicial people can be impossible. The worst are those who think they speak for God when they criticize others. The self-proclaimed, self-righteous Pharisees or prophets of today.

The Relatives

Since the church is a family we can sometimes get on each other’s nerves. Mark Twain loved to misquote Chaucer when he would say, “Familiarity breeds contempt…and children.” Distance with relatives is essential for getting along. Families are close enough to each other to smell the garlic, hear the whining, and get in your business. More negative thoughts will emerge about people you know well, and you know family better than anyone else. But family can also be some of your biggest supporters and best advocates.

The Doubters

It seems that anytime you make a major step in faith, someone is there to bring doubt into your life. They are the doubting Thomas’s of the church: “Are you sure that we should do that?” “Can we afford that?” “I just don’t like change.” Not everything we do as a church will be successful and these people will be the first to remind us that they were opposed from the beginning. These people cause the church to hesitate often when God is telling you to move now.

The Vengeful

No one is more difficult to live with than a vindictive person. They seem to be in every church, family, or group. They get their feelings hurt and may wait for years to enact their retribution. Sadly, they often do not even realize that they are vindictive. They believe that they are doing the right thing because the person that hurt them deserves what they get. Others will often warn you to watch you back or be careful what you tell that person because they have seen how they attack and lash out at others.

We may want to simply avoid these types of people, but God wants us to find a way to draw them back into the family in a healthy manner…in spite of our cabin fever.