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This sweet twilight can be a time for reflection - a time when God who searches the heart can reveal truth and correction. Jeremiah warned that the heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick - who can understand it? The Lord is able. "I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind...." [Jer. 17:9-10]. David attested to this fact "O Lord, you have searched me and known me...you are intimately acquainted with all my ways," [Ps. 139:1-3] and prompts, "Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still" [Ps. 4:4]. Scientists agree that sleep is the reboot time for our mind and bodies, a time where the demands of our activities don't interfere in the process of healing and growth. Perhaps spiritually it is a time to hear God's still small voice, a time wherein the Psalmist writes, "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me" [Ps. 16:7]. Young's Literal Translation interprets it this way, and I love it: "I bless Jehovah who hath counselled me; Also in the nights my reins instruct me." I like to picture the mighty steed submitting to the direction of His maker to go in the right direction!
Yet sleep is a time of vulnerability. Time magazine begins an article by Belinda Luscombe [Oct. 17, 2013] on sleep with this, "In a predatory world, sleep doesn't make much evolutionary sense. Why would any creature lie down, shut its eyes and not move for about a third of a day? It's like an invitation to be eaten." I love that. Luscombe quotes a new study out of the University of Rochester Medical Center suggesting that, not only is sleep a time for consolidating memories and recharging cells, sleep is your trash pick-up time - yes, garbage collection day. The brain cooperates in this by shriveling up to 60% making less roads to travel. Imagine that. Reminds me of the mighty brain submitting to the clean-up of His maker! Sleep deprivation has long been considered a symptom of mental illness, but now studies suggest that it actually contributes to psychiatric disorders [Harvard Health Publications]. Anyone who's spent a restless night or has a newborn child can attest to that! Our bodies beg for serious shut-eye. It's as if our brain says, "rest already so I can work." Sleep may not be convenient in the evolutionary scheme of things, but in the spiritual, it is a time we learn to let go and trust in a very practical way. A time we can enter into rest knowing we are safe "in Christ" no matter the storm, just as Jesus, tossed about by the turbulent seas of Lake Galilee demonstrated His perfect trust in His Father (who neither slumbers nor sleeps) by....sleeping!
There was another boat mentioned in the Bible that served to save and preserve those on board. Noah's ark [Gen. 6-7]. Bear with me through a few comparisons.
God sovereignly chooses one family of sinners to preserve in His mercy; Luke 1:77-79 outlines the mercy of God resulting in salvation to His people.
Noah hears God's voice and fears Him [Heb. 11:7]; John 10:27 says "my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Noah walked in obedience to God's commands [Gen. 6:22]; John 14:15 says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
Noah built the ark in faith, being warned of things not seen as yet [Heb. 11:7]; 2 Cor. 5:7 says we walk by faith and not by sight.
God counts Noah's faith as righteousness [Gen. 7:1]; we are declared righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus [Rom. 3:24].
God directed Noah to build the ark, giving him very explicit directions; 2 Tim. 3:16-17 says all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Noah condemned the world and became the heir of righteousness according to faith [Heb. 11:7]; James 4:4 says friendship with the world means enmity against God.
God sealed the door shut [Gen. 7:16]; God seals us into the body of believers with His Holy Spirit [Eph. 1:13-14].
Noah persevered through the storm of judgment; Matt. 24:13 Jesus warns his disciples of great tribulation, but that those who endure to the end shall be saved.
God's mercy saved only those who entered the ark; John 10:9 says, "I [Jesus] am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."
The ark was the only means of salvation; Acts 4:12 reads, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."
Thereby we can conclude that the ark is a picture of Jesus Christ and Noah the believer who has entered in to the rest. But I found a tidbit very surprising the other day - of course, just before I went to sleep. The next day I thought I'd lost it - I knew it was important, but for the life of me I could not remember it. BUT GOD. There, on a bathroom shelf, two days later - at someone else's home, sat a devotional. It read:
"When the dark clouds of trial, struggle, grief, or suffering roll in and settle on us so thick that we can barely see ahead of us, it's easy to forget there is a place of calm, light, clarity, and peace we can rise to. If we take God's hand in those difficult times, He will lift us up above our circumstances to the place of comfort, warmth, and safety He has for us."
Comfort! Noah! Noah means "comfort"*! Comfort in the Ark! My heart leapt for joy realizing that the picture of Noah dwelling inside the Ark is that of the Holy Spirit - the Comforter - dwelling in Christ and in every believer. Truly "I in Thee and Thee in Me, for Time and For Eternity." (Thank you, mom!)
How comforting it is to find rest in Him. He is my Hope, my ever present help in times of trouble. Jesus beckons, "come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" [Matt. 11:27].
Remember upon your bed tonight these comforting words from Isaiah:
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You." [Isaiah 26:3]
* A few more very interesting facts about Noah:
"Comfort" is given as the Hebrew definition for Noah, but there are two 'Biblical' meanings according to www.sheknows.com: Repose and consolation.
If you've been following my posts, you will remember "Because Ye Are Unleavened" stating that the fourth question of the Passover was changed after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 from "on all other nights, we eat meat, which has been roasted, stewed or boiled, but on this night we eat only roasted meat," to "On all other nights we eat while sitting upright, but on this night we eat reclining [to repose]."
Consolation immediately brought to my mind Simeon who "was waiting for the Consolation of Israel." Upon seeing the child Jesus, Simeon blessed God and said: "Lord, now You are letting your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel." [Luke 2:25-32]
To me Noah's very naming points to the saving work of Christ and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit in the believer in Christ.
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