Two by two they came to the Ark. The faith of a righteous and pure man before the eyes of God made all the difference in the world! What can we understand about God’s choice in Noah and His desire to preserve the creatures of this world from the Great Flood?

The Lord God shared a unique relationship with Noah and the creatures, unmatched since the time of the great flood. I share with you an excerpt from Chapter 9 of Animals in Heaven? Catholics Want to Know!

The story of Noah is a terrific example of God’s love for humankind and creatures, and the covenant He makes with both. I like who Noah was, and I like the fact that he was a “stand-alone” guy who didn’t succumb to the pressures of the world and its ways.

In the time of Noah, the world had moved to a terrible and corrupted state because of the incalculable sins of humanity, and God was preparing to cleanse what He created. The world had become so violent and full of immoral filth that God could no longer allow the rest of His creation to succumb to it. What was good, man called bad; what was bad, man called good: lying, killing, idol worship, adultery, profanity, sexual perversions, pride, disobedience, fornication, avarice, envy, desecration of what was holy, mercilessness, and bloodthirsty acts—which, I’ve got to say, sounds all too familiar. The cleansing would be a forthcoming justice unlike any in the history of the world: a flood to destroy everything on earth.

So where is God’s love in that?

Lest we forget, humans, creation, and the universe were created out of eternal love to bring glory to God. The good rests in the preservation of Noah and his family, who lived their lives to glorify God, and in the preservation of all the animals that were under the divine providential care of God. It is here that we see God’s desire to refresh the world in goodness once again. We can only imagine how evil the world must have been for God to be moved to such purification.

As He had done since the creation of the world, God moved forward with His plans for the redemption of mankind and creation. Noah was chosen by God because of who he was, a holy man, and his family would have the privilege of repopulating the world again. Noah’s ancestral lineage was true to their Creator, a holy line of God’s faithful people:

Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. (Gen.6:9)

God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you. (Gen.9:8-9)

Noah, never being one to “rock God’s boat” was laughed at and scorned by the world as he built the massive ark that god had commissioned. He built the huge ship on dry land, trusting that God would deliver the rains of purification. Noah was a man of unimaginable faith, obeying God in every way, even though his actions appeared ridiculous to the rest of the world.

Noah was to gather a male and female of every creature on the earth. (You might think to yourself, “Yeah, fight! All those animals, all the food needs—not to mention the waste expulsion—and surely they would try and eat one another!”) But, remember, God can do anything He wants. And man in communion with God can accomplish things beyond physical, rational, and natural means. Believe me, if it was important to have an animal from halfway across the world in that ark, it was there; if there was to be enough to feed all the creatures and the humans, it was there; if there was to be harmony of all creation it happened. All participants in this paramount moment were responding to their Creator the way the Creator had asked. It defied all probability and possibility.

Our rational selves today are so quick to discount the implausible as being impossible, and we forget our spiritual roots. Today the mantras of choice are logic (man thinking things out for himself), science (A group of men patting each other on the back, believing they have all the answers), and common sense (man must be able to see, touch, taste, hear or smell something to believe it). Not so with Noah.

…The covenant that God made with Noah continues to the present day, and is a testimonial to the love of the Creator for man and all of the animals that received the breath of life from God.

“I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. “(Gen.9:12-13)

Noah chose to serve God above all else. Where are we in our relationship to God as opposed to our worldly gods of materialism, consumerism and convenience?

Would you consider emptying yourself to God so that the world could be changed?

How are you helping to preserve and protect creation and its creatures that God loved so much that He chose to preserve and protect them?

Would you consider advocating, volunteering or donating your time and treasure or both to help preserve and protect that which GIVES GLORY TO OUR CREATOR?

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