Noah’s ark storybooks and toys are staples on the bookshelves and in the toyboxes of children. All those animals marching two by two into a big boat—delightful! That is until we remember that this is a story that begins with these words from Genesis 6:
The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
We know how the story goes from here: a mammoth flood blots out all life, except for those safe in the ark. Water is no longer life-giving. It is a destructive force of great magnitude. Children’s toys aside, what possible encouragement can we find in this story? Ultimately, this is a story of cleansing, protection, and promise. We can find encouragement in this story when we read it from the point of view of our spiritual needs: