God's Guidance
Download MP3Welcome to a place of peace, hope, and divine encouragement. This is Joy In Every Step with your host, beloved preacher, retired teacher, and faithful servant of the Lord, Elder Sarita Bernadette. Long before podcasting existed, a promise was spoken. That one day, Sarita's voice would bring comfort, clarity, and understanding through the word of God. Years later, when God opened the door, Sarita took the next step in faith.
Introduction:What began as a leap of faith has become a weekly invitation to walk more closely with God, discover the joy found in his word, and receive fresh revelation for every step of the journey. Whether you're walking through the valleys or standing on the mountaintops, Sarita's heartfelt messages will guide you back to God's promises with wisdom, warmth, and the gentle reminder that he cares deeply for you. So open your heart, settle your spirit, and take the next step in faith with Joy In Every Step.
Sarita Bernadette:Hi. I'm Sarita Bernadette, and welcome back to Joy In Every Step. I'm glad you're here. Our last two episodes were focused on God's wisdom. His wisdom is what enables us to navigate this life according to the principles he operates by.
Sarita Bernadette:Basically, love and truth. Today's topic is focused on God's guidance. It's the explicit direction He provides for our daily decisions. His wisdom is what influences influences our thinking and His guidance is what influences how we act on that thinking. Wisdom points us in the right direction.
Sarita Bernadette:Guidance gives us specific actions. And beloved, God's guidance goes beyond helping us make decisions. It really does. It involves a trusting obedient relationship with the master. His guidance is a central theme throughout scripture, showing us that we need to seek and follow his will for our lives.
Sarita Bernadette:Psalm one hundred nineteen, one hundred five. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. God's teaching provide... God's teachings provide us with practical step by step guidance for daily living and moral direction. Psalm 30 two:eight reads, I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go.
Sarita Bernadette:I will counsel you with my eye upon you. God has promised to provide us with instruction and oversight if we'll only seek him. There's a familiar story in the Old Testament that is probably one of the first Bible stories young children learn. It's the story of Noah. Noah's story is found in Genesis chapters six through nine.
Sarita Bernadette:In a nutshell, God saved Noah and his family from a global flood because of Noah's righteousness. Let's look at this story. Genesis six verses five through eight. The Lord saw that the wickedness of humans was great in the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made humans on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart.
Sarita Bernadette:So the Lord said, I will blot out from the earth the humans I have created, the people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. Verse eight. But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord. The earth became fulfilled with all kinds of evil and it grieved God so much that he decided to wipe everything out except for Noah and his family. Genesis six nine describes Noah as a righteous blameless man who walked in close fellowship with God.
Sarita Bernadette:Beloved, it was Noah's character and relationship with the Lord that put him at the center of this accounting. Listen to what God told Noah and the specificity in his in his instructions to him. Genesis six, we drop down to verses 14 through 16. Make yourself an ark of cypress wood, make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it.
Sarita Bernadette:The length of the ark, 300 cubits, its width, 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above, and put a door of the ark on its side. Make it with lower second and third decks. So there was a type of, there was a specific type of wood rather originally called gopher wood, and that's a transliteration. We don't fully understand what type of wood or material it really was.
Sarita Bernadette:Scholars have surmised that it was some type of water resistant softwood like cypress, cedar, or pine, and that's what you heard in the the verse that I read earlier. Then in verse 14, God said, cover it inside and out with pitch. And pitch was a sticky, tar like, or resinous substance used to waterproof the whole ark. The Hebrew word for pitch is kaphar, which means to cover or a covering. It's the same root word frequently translated as atonement in other parts of the Old Testament, representing safety and protection from judgment.
Sarita Bernadette:So God gave Noah precise instructions that led him and his family to be sealed off, sealed away from the chaos of the waters outside and the judgment imposed on the rest of the world. Then there's the size of the ark. It was 450 feet long. Yep. Longer than an NFL football field.
Sarita Bernadette:75 feet wide and 45 feet high around the height of a four to five story building. Huge vessel with floors. Continuing on with the conversation between God and Noah, Genesis six verses 17 through 22. For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life. Everything that is on the earth shall die, but I will establish my covenant with you.
Sarita Bernadette:And you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, to every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come into you to keep them alive. Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten and store it up, and it shall serve as food for you and for them.
Sarita Bernadette:Verse 22. Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him. God gave Noah additional instructions. He guided Noah regarding who and what should be on that ark.
Sarita Bernadette:Two things about this part of the story stand out to me, beloved. First, God said, I will establish my covenant with you. He made a solemn and binding promise to save Noah and his family from the flood. I believe Noah heard the promise and he received it. He knew God to be immutable.
Sarita Bernadette:We know that same God, beloved, He has not changed. He cannot lie and he does not make mistakes. Then verse 22 tells us, Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him. Noah had a solid relationship with God.
Sarita Bernadette:He demonstrated trust in action. This is what doing the word looks like. It's changing your actual behavior to match God's commands. Whatever God instructs you to do, you do. James one verses 22 through 25.
Sarita Bernadette:But be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror, for they look at themselves and on going away immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act, they will be blessed in their doing. Noah understood that he had to act on the exact instructions he was being given. God was guiding him.
Sarita Bernadette:Now we don't know exactly how long Noah worked on the ark. But we know that he persevered for decades despite public ridicule and an absence of any previous flooding. In the seventh chapter of Genesis, God warned Noah that the flood was on its way. Genesis seven and four. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.' So they all went into the ark, Noah's family along with the animals, and after seven days, the floodwaters came, and God shut them in.
Sarita Bernadette:Beloved, you might have noticed this in all of the instructions about how to build the ark. There was no mention of a rudder or a sail, or a steering wheel. There's no way for a human to guide the enormous vessel. It was designed to float, and be carried rather than navigated. It wasn't a maneuverable ship, it was a floating treasure chest if you will, designed to preserve life.
Sarita Bernadette:That detail just speaks to me. Who under the sound of my voice has ever asked for God's guidance and then tried to grab the steering wheel? Don't all raise your hands at once. And in case you're wondering, my hand is up. There's a lesson here.
Sarita Bernadette:God is sovereign. He's the ultimate authority, and we must believe that Father knows best. Storms happen, right? God may give instructions that don't make sense. Those times call for us to climb in to the ark of safety and flow with God.
Sarita Bernadette:Those times call for total surrender and trust, beloved. Genesis seven eleven through 12. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life in the second month and on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens were opened. The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. In sum, the water grew deeper until it lifted the earth, the ark high above the earth, high above the ground.
Sarita Bernadette:The floodwaters rose so high that they covered every mountain under the heavens by more than, the word says, 15 cubits, about 22 feet or seven meters. Every living thing on dry land that breathed air, including people, livestock, wild animals, creeping things, and and even birds died. It all died out. Only Noah and those inside the ark survived the disaster. The floodwaters remained strong and covered the earth for a total of one hundred and fifty days.
Sarita Bernadette:Noah waited forty days for the waters to recede, and then he sent out a raven and a dove. When the dove returned with an olive branch, and then later didn't return at all, Noah knew there was dry land out there. God told Noah, his family and all the animals to leave the ark. And what did Noah do? Noah built an altar and offered up a sacrifice to the Lord.
Sarita Bernadette:Then in Genesis nine verses 13 through 17, we read, I have set a bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all fresh of all flesh that is on the earth. God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.
Sarita Bernadette:God promised never to destroy the earth with the flood again, setting a rainbow in the sky as a sign of that promise. Promise made, promise kept. Noah's story highlights God's divine compassion and His mercy. Yes, the story speaks of God's judgment, but His grace towards those who respond to His directives is what really stands out to me. God's guidance leads us to develop a character that aligns with His Word.
Sarita Bernadette:His guidance compels us to obey His instructions. God's guidance empowers us to stay the course even when it's hard. His guidance shows us how to remain under the ark of safety. Those who follow God's guidance are always under His protection. God's Guidance is the fulfillment of a promise.
Sarita Bernadette:This is Joy In Every Step. I'm Sarita Bernadette and I'm grateful you chose to spend some time here with me. Feel free to share this episode with someone you know would appreciate it. You can find Joy In Every Step wherever you listen to your podcasts and give us a follow there. Do check out the website at joyineverystep.org.
Sarita Bernadette:See you next time.
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