Come, Enter4 min read

What beautiful, welcoming words are “enter” and “come.” They invite us, and most of us love receiving an invitation—that special envelope that appears in our mailbox (or email)—a bright flower nesting among the weeds of bills and junk mail.

In these days of commitment to isolationism and social distancing, thinking about invitation and come and enter wafts in like a spring breeze.

Events accompanied by invitations are, generally speaking, limited by either available space, budget, or relationship—or all three. Otherwise, it would just be “y’all come.”

God has issued an engraved invitation to each of us to come to Him. He is not limited by space; He has more space than we could ever begin to visualize and, furthermore, if things should become tight, He could always create more, right?

God is not limited by budget; He owns all things. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it, for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters” (Psalm 24:1 NIV).

God does, however, limit His gracious invitation by relationship. He does not deal with the complexities you and I do as we create lists of invitees. For instance, if we invite sweet Aunt Peggy and her children, does that mean we also must invite grumpy Uncle George who won’t want to come anyway? No, God keeps it simple. He invites all His children to enter.

Enter Into God’s Shelter

In the days prior to the flood by which God would destroy all life, He issued an invitation to Noah and his family to enter into His shelter, the ark. “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7 NIV). Would Noah have had concerns, fears? Likely, he did; Noah was no more perfect than any other person. How often must he have wondered at the end of a hard, frustrating day on the job if maybe, just maybe, the scoffers were right. Maybe he was acting like a foolish man. What if he made some errors in the construction? What if a flood (whatever that is) never did come? But Noah placed his full trust in God and His Word, and his faith led him to action. He was obedient and worked on the construction of the ark for 120 years.

During all those years while building the ark, Noah endured the scoffing and ridicule of his neighbors as he warned them of the impending doom, to no avail. “For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark” (Matthew 24:37–38 NIV). Then Genesis 7:11b–12 tells us “…on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.”

When they entered the ark, they certainly weren’t at a loss for things to do; their life was like a zoo! I’d be very surprised if, during all those months, tempers did not at times flare; if they didn’t at times grumble about cleaning out the stalls AGAIN; if they didn’t sometimes argue over who’s cooking today. Meantime, God protected Noah and his family, carrying them safely through the waters. For Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, the quarantine lasted over a year. Finally, the waters receded and God invited Noah and his family to enter into this new world. Noah built an altar and worshiped God.

We all face doubts and fears. But Noah’s first action upon leaving the ark shows us his lifestyle: he worshiped God. He must have felt the words each day that would so many years later be penned and recorded in Lamentations 3:22–23: “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

As we face so many unknowns, may we place our trust firmly in our Lord, looking to Him to invite us to enter His ark—Jesus Christ, who will carry us safely through the rough waters.

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