BOLD Week 4:
Making Room for the Will of God – Genesis 6
f/t/i @bobbymcgraw
God always wants the best for us, and He is committed to showing us how to follow the specific plan He has designed for each of our lives. He wants us to listen for His voice to hear what He wants us to do and how He wants us to do it.
Many people know God wants them to do, they just don’t make room to do it.
I. SHAPED BY THE CHARACTER OF GOD
- I will blot out (6:7)
- I will destroy (6:13)
- I will bring a flood…to destroy (6:17)
- Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. (6:13 – 14)
God making room of room new world. He is heart broken over the sinfulness of man. His creation isn’t living in sync with Him. Yet, he doesn’t give up. He begins to step in to redeem the story.
You see Noah making room for a new work. Noah embodies a new possibility. A new hope. He is righteous and blameless. He walks with God.
God is stepping in and saving a story!
Pitch – every other time in scripture this word is translated as “atonement.” On the outside it protects us from the world; on the inside it protects the movement of God in our lives.
Are there some things you can push out of your life?
// Make peace with your past.
// Make peace with God.
2. STEP INTO YOUR CALLING
“This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.” (6:15-16)
God is spelling out exactly what this is to look like. He is telling him, “This is what you do!” And What did Moses do? He stepped into it.
It’s easy for us to get numbed out by living outside the perimeter. We get caught up in the daily grind…doing the same things over and over again. All that stress tends to make us numb. Numb to the fact that God is inviting us into the story.
Recognize the calling:
- Listen to what he says.
- Follow Directions.
- See it thru.
Are you listening?
3. STAY IN COVENANT
“I will Establish my covenant…” (6:18)
God enters into the pain of the fractured the world and establishes a covenant. Covenant is where the blessing is. God is saying that the will stay within world. He will endure his world. He will sustain his world.
The Will of God is directed by covenant.
- I will protect you.
- I will promote you.
- I will populate the earth.
Part of saying in covenant means that I keep the big picture in mind!!!
4. START WITH YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
“He…did all that God commanded him.” (6:22)
“Noah did all that the Lord and commanded him.” (7:5)
“…As God had commanded Noah.” (7:9)
Noah is fully responsive. He allows God to be God and does everything that he says. He is making room for something new! Noah regards God’s commands/instructions as promises of life. He is a model of faith that we haven’t seen yet in the Bible.
It’s possible to stay faithful in a faithless word.
- Start with what you have.
- Start with where you’re at.
- What’s the next thing.
It may not be heroic or monuments – but it will be meaningful.
What is the next thing God wants you to do? Make space for that today!