Faith in Disaster

Scriptures

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Isaiah 43:1 ESV

1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Isaiah 43:1–2 ESV

1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

2 Chronicles 7:13–14 ESV

13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Isaiah 43:1-2

Me

You no doubt have heard about the Corona Virus that is sweeping over the entire world. Some of us haven’t given it a second thought, while others all around us have dug a deep well of fear for ourselves.

People are rushing to the stores to stock up with just about everything they can get their hands on.

Some are losing their jobs.

Others are losing their families, friends, and many other things that are important to them.

It can be an indifferent time for many as well as a truly scary place for others.

How do we approach life in the midst of such a global crisis?

We

How can we hold onto hope and not be overcome by fear?

Especially these past couple of weeks its seems like its so easy to be engulfed by fear that we can forget what hope and faith even looked like.

I don’t want to live on fear. I’m sure you are the same as well. Let’s live in our hope and faith in God.

But how does one do that?

God

This morning we are going to focus on , the faith chapter and really keen in on the story of Noah, because I believe this story of faith and hope is quite relevant for us today in light of all that is happening around us.

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

The author of Hebrews tells us that faith is:

The assurance of things hoped for.

The conviction of things not seen.

As we pour into the story of Noah, I encourage you to ask these questions.

What does Noah hope for?

How does he have assurance?

What unseen thing is Noah convicted of?

Hebrews 11:7 ESV

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

The story of Noah is incredible for many reasons, but it is also relevant for today, even if we didn’t have a virus sweeping the globe.

As you listen to this sermon it can be easily taken as a stand on the Corona Virus. It is not. That is not the intent. This is not a Corona Virus Sermon. This is a Faith Sermon. Join me and pay attention to Noah’s incredible faith. What we need today is not to so much as to change how we view COVID-19, but what we need is to allow God to deepen our faith.

So lets go on a journey together as we study Noah and his incredible faith in God through the unknown.

Hebrews 11:7 ESV

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Background

The world is in chaos, but only a few know it and on planet earth those numbers are even less so.

In the time of Noah, there was no respiratory virus taking the world by storm, but there was an invisible virus that had not entered the lungs or the nose, but had entered the hearts and minds of many.

tells us that wickedness was everywhere.

Genesis 6:5 ESV

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:5

This wickedness had become so great that God experienced grief and pain and quite possibly regret.

Genesis 6:6 ESV

6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

As God looked into the hearts and minds of every person on the planet, He was finding the same thing. Wickedness and sin. But then His eyes met with Noah.

Name of Noah

In this story Noah stands out. If Noah’s story was a coloring book, everything and everyone around Noah would be black and white, but Noah is a bright and almost annoying pink. He jumps out of the page, its impossible to miss him, because Noah is so drastically different from everyone around him.

Noah’s name should cause the reader to pause and take notice.

Noah means relief.

Which begs the question: Relief from what? Who receives relief?

You see this story isn’t about Noah. It isn’t about all the wicked people on planet earth.

This story is about God.

In this story Noah brings relief to God.

As God sees the wickedness and sin all around the world, He is ready to give up. But when God sees Noah, God is re-energized. God is revived. Because of Noah’s heart.

God then decides to use Noah as a tool to save the rest of humanity.

Unknowns

The wickedness of humanity had caused God to regret creating all of humanity except for Noah. So God would use Noah in a powerful way.

God planned on starting over, but this time through His servant Noah.

So God lets Noah in on His plan.

Genesis 6:13 ESV

13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Genesis 6:13

Imagine if this happened to you?

God has given you insight into His plans for the entire world!

And He wants you to be apart of it.

Next God tells Noah to build an Ark.

Because a Flood is coming.

This is big news, the world is going to end in the most impossible way.

This isn’t something you can hold onto quietly.

Now imagine having this conversation with others.

“Hey the world is going to end!”

“How do you know?”

“God told me.”

“How is He going to do it”

“He’s calling it a flood.”

“Can we survive it?”

“Yeah if you get into an Ark.”

“What’s an Ark?”

“I don’t know but I’m going to build it.”

Noah was tasked not just with building an Ark that could fit every species on planet earth but also to communicate unknowns to everyone around him.

Nobody knew what an ark was.

Nobody knew what a flood was, they had never even experienced rain.

It must have seemed like Noah was living in a fairy tale land.

He’s making stuff up.

Noah’s threat isn’t serious. Oh but it was.

His Faith

So Noah uproots his whole life to focus on this one project, the salvation of humanity by building a very large floating zoo.

Noah must have had a lot of faith. What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith is:

Assurance of things hoped for

conviction of things not seen.

What was Noah hoping for?

God wasn’t lying. That if God had told Noah to do something, especially something as big as building a floating zoo. That God would provide.

God would provide:

The animals.

The Flood.

Provisions on the Ark.

A new home.

I’m sure Noah was assuring himself everyday. But faith isn’t just assurance of a better world.

Faith is also being convicted of the unknown. Being convicted of something I can’t hold onto. Something I can’t see or imagine. Something I know nothing about.

Noah was convicted that God was true. That God is faithful. That God will provide.

Noah wasn’t fearful. He was faithful. This doesn’t mean that Noah did the same things as he did yesterday, it means he listened to God and adjusted accordingly.

It means he trusted God enough to become uncomfortable so that others might have the chance for newness of life.

You

I have no idea what COVID-19 holds for us. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow or next week. For many of us life is going on just as it always did. For others life is very different. Many are fearing a loss of income amongst many other fears.

But if there is one thing the story of Noah teaches me is that no matter what is happening I can have faith.

I am assured that even a flood brought about by God is not greater than God. I am assured that no matter what happens today or tomorrow, my God will provide.

We may lose our jobs and many other things, but we will never lose our provider and sustainer.

I am not only assured of these things, I am convicted of these things as well.

We

My prayer for you is that the story of Noah which ends with the safety of his family and a bright new future for the people of planet earth may be an inspiration for you.

Though the planet is not facing a flood, we are facing something greater. Sin.

But our story has already been written. We know how the last chapter ends.

You and Me together with the one who destroys as well as heals. The one who was strung up on a cross because of His great love.

But those nails couldn’t hold him.

The grave couldn’t contain him.

Satan has never defeated him.

That Jesus loves me.

That gives me hope.

I hope it gives you hope too.