So what happens to you when you get a spiritual blip? A spiritual blip is what I call a brief word from God where you are called to act. I get these blips periodically, and at first I worked hard to ignore them, simply saying that that they were my thoughts and not really God. Now, I have learned to pay attention to them and act on them.

The journey of the disciple is to learn to hear the
Holy Spirit speak and to obey the word spoken.

“And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.”  (Gen. 6:13-14 NRSV)

Can you imagine getting this command from God? What would you have done? Might you have been tempted to disobey? If you are working on getting close to God, then you probably would.

In verse eight of Genesis chapter six, Noah was found to have favor in God’s eyes. While the rest of the earth was corrupt, Noah and his family appear to be the only ones who were striving to obey God and live according to His statutes.  This is the journey of discipleship that was being lived out by Noah.

The rest of chapter six and seven describe how Noah heard the word of God, believed it, and acted on it! Can you imagine doing the same thing? I love the movie, “Evan Almighty”, which depicts this story in modern times. We can see how this would be absolutely ridiculous. Many of us, if that situation were real, would have said no way.

This is a wonderful, challenging, and captivating story, but how do we apply it to our lives? The word of God was not just given to us to inform us. It was meant for us to apply it to our lives.  We must ask ourselves the questions that will help us to learn how to live with this kind of faith.

Questions:

1. What are some things that God has asked me to do that appeared to be absolutely crazy?
2. What requests did I receive from God in prayer that I fearfully avoided obeying because of the possible rejection I would receive?
3. Are there any decisions that I can look back on and see where God was trying to prevent me from making serious mistakes?
4. What can I learn from my answers?

God is about the business of growing us in faith. Why? Because before our ancestors committed original sin, they had to first doubt God’s word and his goodness. This is what we all grow up doing – doubting God.

If Noah had not trusted in God’s word that spoken to him, he would have died like the rest of the corrupt world. Lord, give us the faith that saves our lives!