Memories are funny, aren’t they? I can remember as a kid going to the dentist and looking at this book on the table in the waiting room. It was The Bible Story. Do you remember that big blue book?
One page in particular is engraved in my memory. The picture of Noah’s ark and people banging on the side as they tried to stay afloat. I will never forget that picture.
We hear and read those Bible stories as children, but as adults, we should try to get something new out of them.
My morning devotional reading was Noah. So I tried as I read it to see new things.
I cannot imagine how it must have been for Noah and his family. I know they were thankful to God for saving them. But like any human, did they complain about the days and days of rain?
We get depressed without any sunshine. Did they?
Did God lock the door when He shut them in the ark? Were they able to see outside?
Did the animals stink or was that a miracle of God? What did they do with all the poop?
So many questions that are interesting to ask and think about. Maybe that’s why we aren’t given a lot of details in some stories. To let our curious minds wander. To help us identify with the characters and ask ourselves what it must have been like and what we might have done or felt.
The next time you read one of the stories of old, put yourself in the characters’ shoes.
Perhaps you’ll have a lot of questions.
Farther along we’ll know all about it.
