God closes the door

STANDOUT VERSE - GENESIS 7:16
[Noah, his family and the animals entered the ark.] Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

God was the doorman. What would have happened if Noah had been in charge of the door? Would he have closed the door earlier in order to be absolutely safe and sure that no water got in, or would he have waited longer so that as the rains began some may still save themselves? I have no idea, but I do know that God makes it clear that he was the one in ultimate control. He held it open and eventually he pushed it shut.

ADDITIONAL PASSAGE OF NOTE - MATTHEW 3:7-12
[John said,] “…Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ … [Jesus} is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

One of the reasons why John, and later Jesus, denounced the Pharisees was that they claimed they were able to do what God had made sure Noah could not: that they could arbitrate on who was safe and who not. Just as Genesis makes it clear that occupancy of the ark is up to God and God alone, so John makes it clear that this is Jesus’ place and no other’s to judge men.

This point needed making at least twice in Scripture (in fact we find it in very many other places) because it is not a lesson we learn easily or well. We couch our judgements in different ways thinking this makes it more acceptable, yet the root remains the same. We place ourselves in the positions of a judge, elevating our place that we may judge over them and push them down in our judgements. We declare ourselves as capable, perhaps even more so, than God and thus usurp his divinity.

Lord God, show me where I judge others and where I use them as stepping stones and stairs to create and maintain position. Teach me to pick others up and not to tread them down. Remove judgementalism in me and make me an encourager.