Noah Built the Ark Before it Rained

 

Sitting at a traffic light, I couldn’t help but read the bumper stickers on a truck in front of me. One stuck out; “Noah built the ark before it rained.” Hours later I am still pondering the depth of this meaning spiritually.

In the story of Noah and the Ark, God came to Noah when he was 500 years old to warn him that men he created were wicked and God was going to start over by wiping out humanity. He was making an exception for Noah, as Noah proved to be a good, faithful guy.

But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Genesis 6:18-20

When Noah was 600 years old, the skies opened and it rained and poured for forty days and forty nights and the water from the rain lasted on the earth for 150 days until the land became dry. Upon the land, Noah builds an altar to God who promises to bless Noah’s descendants and to never again wipe out humanity.

What does all of this mean?

Metaphysically, where Scripture is a template for the Soul’s unfolding, each symbol has its own meaning. The ark, signifies the inner temple of God. In our spiritual unfolding, we awaken to the consciousness of duality (good and wicked) as we reach for the desire to know God and Only God (covenant). We then invest a significant portion of our life in preparing our inner sanctuary for the Soul’s journey into a new life. We bring with us seeming opposites (pairs) and remain on a journey until our solid land (Wholeness) is a new understanding of Oneness. From that insight on, there is no longer a need to destroy that which appeared to be wicked as our understanding appreciates what is birthed within us.

Why then do I build a the ark before the flood instead of in response to it? Because it is in the building of the internal reliance upon The One Presence; that I am readied to be transformed through discomfort, disquietude, and discontent also known as non-stop rain turning my world upside down until I come from a new orientation toward the world.

All in a Bumper Sticker,