With all the rain recently, we are reminded of the great floods and the Bible story of Noah’s Ark from the Book of Genesis. As part of keeping our faith alive, please share this story with younger members of your family. There is a strong faith message in this story, see if they can work it out.
Long ago, there was a man named Noah who had great faith and believed in God.
One day, God looked down on the world and saw that people had become wicked. They lied and stole and cheated and never helped each other. “This will not do!” said God. “I must wash away this wickedness with a great flood!”
But Noah and his family were good people, the only good people around. God spoke to Noah and said “Build an ark of wood and seal it with pitch inside and out. Make it 144 metres long – the size of a cargo ship today. Fill it with all the animals, two by two, and your family. Then you will float safely through the flood I will send to destroy the world!”
Noah did as God asked. He chopped down tall trees and turned them into long wooden planks. He shaped and nailed the planks into a massive sailing ship. He coated the ship thickly with sticky pitch so no water could get in. When the great ark was ready, Noah gathered every kind of animal into it. What a noisy place it must have been with animals like two long-necked giraffes, two fuzzy camels, two striped tigers, two graceful gazelles but Noah and his family worked hard to keep them all safely inside.
At last, the day came when God sent the great flood. The skies opened and heavy rains poured down. Mighty rivers overflowed their banks. Big waves flooded the land. As the waters rose higher and higher, the ark floated up and kept Noah’s family and the animals safely inside.
For forty long days and nights it rained and rained and when at last the storm clouds cleared, Noah peered out and saw calm blue skies again. They had spent months on the ark and as the water cleared the large ship came to rest on the top of a mountain. When the earth was dry again, God told Noah it was safe to leave the ark with his family and all the animals.
Noah built an altar and praised God for saving them. Then God made a promise to Noah, that he would never again to destroy the earth by flood. He even gave the rainbow as a sign of this promise. Remember this the next time you see one.
The story of Noah’s Ark from the Bible reminds us that God wants to forgive and not condemn. Noah and his family had faith and obeyed God and He protected them, God will protect you too. Noah did what God asked and did not care what other people thought. He trusted God and was rewarded for his faith.