Lenten Journey: Stay inside the Ship

"'I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.' And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.'" Genesis 9:11-13

My favorite part of Noah's story is the rainbow. I absolutely love rainbows. Seeing a rainbow in the sky always brings me joy and peace. It's a sign that everything is going to be fine. After every rainfall, a rainbow is nature's most splendid sign that the storm has ended. It is the same with life. A few years ago, I was going through a very difficult time in my life. I went to Siesta Key with my family, and I remember sitting at the beach and praying: "God, when are things going to get better?" I looked toward the horizon and there, among the clouds, was a perfect rainbow. It was God's way of letting me know that the storm was coming to an end.

Many times, when we are going through a difficult time, we may feel the temptation to jump off the ship. But to jump ship means that we have stopped trusting God and life without Him will lead us to certain death. Noah stayed inside the ark even when I'm sure he was very tempted to jump out. We must remain inside the ship even when we think God has forgotten us or abandoned us. Soon we will see the rainbow and we will know that the storm is about to end.

The flood lasted forty days and forty nights. This was a time of cleansing, to wash away all the sins from the earth and destroy all the evil. The forty days of Lent are also a time of cleansing, of reflection and of asking forgiveness for all our sins. It's a time of penance, a time to cleanse ourselves from attachments to those things that take our focus away from God so that ultimately on Easter Sunday we may rise with Christ anew, recommitted to a close relationship with Him who created us in His image.

Noah, through his faithfulness to the Father, became the instrument through which God saved not just Noah but his family as well. In following God's command to bring the animals on the ark so they could multiply once again upon the earth, Noah also became the instrument through which creation itself was renewed. Noah became the symbol of a new beginning.

God is asking each one of us to become His instrument. During this Lent, He is asking to allow Him to renew us. But in order to do this, we have to cleanse ourselves from all those worldly things that are in the way of our relationship with God. There are a lot of obstacles that are keeping us from a full relationship with the Lord. God wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us. God destroyed all life on earth during the flood because of the wickedness and evil ways of humanity. He wants to deliver us from sin. It is the only way that we can have a full relationship with God.

And He is asking us to stay inside the ship and to trust Him, especially if we are in the midst of a storm. Look towards the horizon and search for the rainbow. The storm will soon come to an end.