When to Panic?

 

Photo by Simon Hurry on Unsplash

Would you take a trip on this boat? Wouldn't the weather have to be a bit better to even consider it?

I wonder when the people who lived around Noah began to panic, do you? It would have been very easy to laugh at the man who was building a boat - I wonder also, how close was he to a body of water? We are not told. What we are told:

And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. (Genesis 6:13-16 KJV)

There is not one word about how Noah's neighbors took the news that Noah was building a huge boat. Every movie scene was written without a biblical hint, but came from the minds of men. When we watch scenes that came from men, we see their personal ideas of what could happen - what they would expect from their neighbors if they were building a boat without nearby water.

And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. (Genesis 7:5-11 KJV)

The Bible doesn't tell us that his neighbors noticed - go ahead and check chapters from five, where Noah's birth, 500 years of age, and birth of his sons are mentioned. The next chapter gives a description of the earth, God's granting Noah grace, instructions to his family, and no mention of his neighbors, who must have been included in:

And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (Genesis 6:13 KJV)

Now you would think someone would panic, wouldn't you? We judge the story by what we know of mankind today, and the earth is filled with violence today, isn't it? We see the signs, and we see wars, rumors of other wars, and divisiveness where none has been for a hundred or more years. When do people panic?

We shouldn't, you know. Multiple times in the Bible we are told "Fear not," sometimes as "Be not afraid," or "Do not fear," each in a positive directive. Why?

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV)

The Bible has examples of people who followed those directives:

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. (Isaiah 12:2 KJV)

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalms 23:4 KJV)

Christ was specific with the promise He left with His disciples:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27 KJV)

So the answer to this blog's title is: As Christians, we are not to panic. We are to trust the promises we've been given. Even when others are prone to panic, we need to remember three young men:

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (Daniel 3:16-18 KJV)