Pastor Marc Likins
We’re not the only ones who have faced quarantine. Remember Noah?
He was quarantined on the ark for over 200 days with just his family and animals. (Gen 6-8) Now, some of you may think living 24/7 with your kids is like living with animals, but Noah was legitimately under the same rooftop with his furry friends nonstop.
The good news? He had one outlet. He had constructed a window, and opened it after the 40 days of rain. (Gen 8.6) Now, we know the story of Noah, and we know the ending of it. But put yourselves in his shoes for a moment. He didn’t know when his quarantine would be over. He didn’t know exactly how they would survive. He didn’t have a written out plan from God on what to expect….He had a window.
TO LOOK UP
The window helped him get his eyes away from what was staring him in the face on a day-to-day basis—shifting his perspective to the bigness of the heavens, the awesomeness of God.
Today, we have the window of truth (God’s Word) and prayer to help shift our perspective. I challenge you to read as much truth from Scripture as you do headlines and articles. Join us on our blog each day for encouragement. Tune into the church’s sermons and livestreams. Listen to previous sermons and download the YouVersion app or the Dwell app on your phone and saturate yourself in truth.
Literally, everyone can pride themselves in how much they know about what’s going on in the world, but can you pride yourself in how much you know about God’s settling, perspective-changing truth?
And, don’t forget about the incredible power of prayer. Take your emotions and fears and burdens to God. Seriously. Talk out loud to Him before you rant on Facebook. Realign your heart with His mission and glory. Remember, when everything is completely out of your control, know that it is completely in His.
TO LOOK OUT
Not only did Noah’s window give him a chance to look up and shift his perspective, but it also gave him the opportunity to look out. Noah needed to see the sun breaking through, the tops of mountains coming out of the water—essentially anything different than the everyday scenery of gopher wood.
It’s so easy right now to only focus on the latest news or the hypothetical scenarios. Because of this, we all need a window to focus our mind and heart toward something other than the Coronavirus. Choose these windows instead:
Family: Turn off the news and social media, and laugh with your family. I mean, belly-laugh with your family. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. (Proverbs 17.22)
Encouragement: Find a friend who speaks life into you and be in closer contact with him or her.
Meditation: One of my Bible college professors called this changing the channel in your head. Purposefully work at thinking on things that are true, honest, just, pure lovely, good, praiseworthy, virtuous (Phil. 4:8). If you’re not careful your mind can be overrun with heaviness, stress, and the unknown. Your mental health needs a window.
TO LOOK AROUND
Noah’s window was used to send birds out so that he could know what was happening around him broadly, and it helped him take action when needed.
Find a sensible window to help you look broadly at what is happening in our world today and evaluate how to take prudent action.
1. Call your friends or neighbors and ask if there is a way you can pray for them and then genuinely pray for them.
2. Write notes of encouragement.
3. Order some helpful necessities you can send to a senior-saint friend or relative and have it delivered to their home.
The point is this, most of us are locked away on our arks wondering if the rain is done falling and we need a window. Stand up, push the window open, breathe some fresh air in, and turn your eyes up, out, and around today.