Chapter Text
Noah
It had been one hundred and three days exactly since the flood had come upon the earth.
Noah knew. He had been keeping count.
And still, there was no sign of the waters abating.
He had watched the clouding of the sky, for the first time in history, with an awestruck, trembling, thudding heart.
The rolling dark grey had overspread the brilliant blue he had known all his life. It felt like night had fallen suddenly, or like a curtain being drawn across the vast skies, as the sun was hidden from sight behind a boiling mass of angry clouds.
His family had huddled together - the clashing of the thunder and flashing of the lightning was something new and terrifying to them all. Each thunder clap fell like the crashing of cymbals on their terrified ears.
More fearful than the roaring storm, however, were the screams and sobs from without the ark.
The ceaseless banging on the outer shell of the wood of the ark.
The curses, the apologies, the cries to be let in.
The wailing of the terrified mob surrounding the one hundred and forty metre long ship.
He'd rushed to the door, desperate to help, to see if there was a way he could let someone, anyone in - maybe one more life could be saved.
But Noah hadn't closed the door… And he couldn't open it now.
He stood helpless and despairing on the inside, his hands pressed against the giant wooden door as he turned his face to heaven and wept for the lost.
It didn't matter that the same mob had mocked him for the past century. He'd endured their laughter and jeering, and all of the continual malicious comments directed at him and his family with patience. Sure, it had hurt him. But saving life was more important to him that his feelings...
The roar of the rain thundering from the heavens soon increased so he could no longer hear the wailing without the ark.
Then the crashing of the waters, the lurching of the massive boat as it was lifted: there was work to do.
One anchor… Away. The second ballast, gone.
Now they were free, and steadily rising. The floodwaters without sloshed against the impenetrable hull.
There were other boats, but the ark was the only one that could survive. It was like no other boat, the only one built to survive the torrential, unrelenting rain.
For the ark was the Word of God made manifest for Noah's day. The only safe place was inside the message of the hour of the day.
The message had been a simple one.
God, the Judge of all the earth, was going to judge sin, which had increased to a unbearable level. All within the ark would be saved. All without it would perish - washed away and lost forever.
It was a message Noah had preached tirelessly for one hundred and twenty years.
Get into the ark. Be saved.
And yet, when the day came, only the old prophet and his family had entered the ark. There had always been those who'd hung around the door of the ark wondering, but they refused even the final offer to enter the ark and be saved.
They had refused salvation, and there was nothing Noah could do to help them now.
The voice of a neighbour… the voice of a friend outside, screaming out to Noah and his boys to let him in, and silenced a moment later.
Another anchor gone…
Another peg pulled loose as the ark strained against the rising waters.
Noah felt his heart sinking as his tears still fell for the lost, but… there was work to do.
The animals crowded throughout the three levels were clucking, chattering, roaring, rumbling… all trying to keep calm in the midst of the raging storm. The cacophony of noise without and within, and the mixture of smells in the close space almost overloaded the old man's senses.
And yet, in the midst of it all, when it felt like it would be too much for him, his eyes fell upon the roost of doves.
They were cooing softly, seemingly unperturbed.
There it was.
Calm.
In the midst of the storm, they were at peace.
They weren't worrying.
They were waiting.
They had come into the ark for safety, but they knew they would leave the ark again one day.
Noah felt the peace that these simple doves possessed reaching out to him… flooding over him.
He bowed his head and gave thanks in a silent prayer that issued from the depths of his heart to his Maker.
If the Word of the Lord that Noah had believed for one hundred and twenty years had come to pass, then the Lord who had brought them to the test would bring them through it.
There was no need to worry, to fret, or to fear now.
They were in no danger in the ark.
The giant ship may be tossed to-and-fro, but it would not break. It would withstand the waves. Noah had done what God had said, and now it was all in God's hands to look after them. It always had been in His hands.
Noah took a deep breath, gritting his teeth, and nodding with firm resolution.
He would continue to be patient.
He would wait for the Lord to bring them through this storm, and land them safely on the other side.
The Lord had always looked after them, and now, when they needed Him the most, He was still with them. Even here.
They were not alone.
No matter how long it took before they would once again walk on solid ground, the Lord would be their peace in the midst of the storm…