Noah didn't include a sail or a rudder when he built the ark for the major flood. He basically made a life raft and put himself in God's hands. When the waves begin to rise we typically like to take control. Instead, let God sail the boat to take you where he wants to go.
Audio Transcript
Before the floodwaters fell in Chapter 7 verse 16, here's what it says — "And those that entered the ark..." This those is all the animals and Noah and his family.
"Those that are in the ark male and female of all flesh went in as God had commanded him and the Lord shut him in."
Now y'all see this Lord here? It's not spelled differently but it looks different in text type in your Bibles most likely. If you see the word Lord there it'll be in all caps and there's a reason I'll show you in just a minute but this is the first supernatural act — the physical supernatural act because they all got on the boat and look what happened. "And the Lord shut him in."
Now if you read the descriptions you're supposed to make the ark so many cubits long and so many cubits tall. We know that a cubit is 18 inches and over several decades Noah builds a boat out of gopher wood and covers it in pitch and tar. That's a football and a half field long. I'm talking four hundred and fifty feet long, three stories tall.
By the way, can I just take a side note right here? God didn't tell him to put a sail on it or a rudder.
He was to be not in control when he got on the boat. It was simply a life raft and he was putting himself in God's hands.
You see when the world's going out of control, what we try and do is seize control. When the world is spinning chaotically, what we want to do is get our hand on and sometimes we speak religious terms. "I'm praying about this..." But what we're trying to do is control it by telling God what to do.
Sometimes we say, "I'm gonna read this Bible verse. Oh I'm gonna claim this and that Bible verse..." It's great but what we are trying to do is manipulate the situation.
Noah simply got in the ark and said, "Lord take me where you need to take me. Do with me what you need to do with me." And when he got in the boat he told him to put a door in the middle of it. We don't exactly know what that means but apparently this door... how would you like to get some instructions and he's building it like God tells him to build it, he goes, "How am I gonna close this? I have no idea how this is gonna happen."
And then one day it starts to rain and he's like, "We never finished this project." The rains come in and I don't have a hydraulic system, we don't have any pulleys, this doors too heavy, I haven't trained the elephants yet. How do we do this?
And they went in the boat and what does it say? "The Lord shut him in." Can I get an amen in the house?
According to this, Noah went into the ark and the Lord, himself, shut the door.
Watch the full sermon here.