Difficult Family Relationships

“Come into the ark, you and all your household.” . . . And the Lord shut them in”” (Genesis 7:1,16).

Noah was building something he’d never built before, something that would shield his family.  So must we build.  We should always be listening for God’s instructions, so we can be creating something new to bless our relationships with our loved ones, something fresh that we’ve never tried before.

“But,” you say, “I’ve tried everything I know, and there is still hostility, misunderstanding, and estrangement.”  Just as God instructed Noah with the specifics of his ark, He can tell you the dimensions of a new structure for the blessing of your family.  He forced Noah to spend more time in close contact with his loved ones.  God will give you ideas of how to create those kinds of opportunities.

We mustn’t shut out the people who should be close to us, but let God shut them in to us.  We need to be like Noah, and spend time asking God for the dimensions of the structure we must build for the blessing of our family.  Relationships take a long time to construct, but then it took Noah a long time to build the ark.  What projects can we plan that will lock our family into each other?  One day, if we allow God to lock us up together, we may find the door open to new heights.  The ark came to rest on Mount Ararat, which means “heavenly places.”  It turned out to be a whole new world of discovery for Noah’s family.

PRAYER

Lord, thank You for my family. Thank You for giving me all these different personalities that have helped me in my life. When I’m finding it hard to get along, hard to communicate, and I just want to pull away from a loved one, show me the wisdom of building back that relationship. Show me Your plans and give me the wisdom to implement them. Help me look for opportunities to stay close with the people I love. Amen.