You might be thinking … “That’s ridiculous! Who would build a ship without a rudder?”

Have you ever read in the bible the story of Noah’s ark? God gave Noah specific instructions of how to build the ark. Interestingly God did not include a rudder or propulsion system. Have you ever given any thought to that?

Did you know that the whole world knows of Noah’s flood? They may not know of it by that name, but somewhere in their history they know that a massive flood occurred which killed off nearly all of mankind. Yes, Noah’s flood really happened. God had Noah build the ship that saved 8 human lives plus all of the animals. It would have been great if Noah would not have included flies, mosquitoes, gnats, ticks, etc. but then he would not have been obedient to God. We have all of those as a result of sin. Sin brought God’s curse upon the earth.

Anyway, the ark (the ship) that God commanded Noah to build was a work of beauty but it lacked a few things that modern day ship builders always include. Things like a rudder to steer the ship and sails or a motor to propel the ship are missing. How was Noah going to control the ark? What if they find themselves in a bad storm with huge waves? Certainly they need to be able to keep the ship aligned properly with the waves and travelling just at the right speed to keep themselves safe. I spent 8 years in the U.S. Navy and have been in dozens of storms and 2 or 3 hurricanes/typhoons. I know what it is like keeping the ship from being destroyed by and in those conditions. I know what it is like when control of the ship is lost in those conditions. You can read about it HERE. It is a true story I wrote entitled “The Night We Nearly Lost the Ship and Our lives“. It is a lengthy read, but I think you will find it interesting.

The ark Noah built did not need any way to propel it or steer it. That is because God was totally in control. Now I wasn’t there to know this for sure, but I just imagine that while Noah and the others were floating around that they didn’t experience any bad weather and rough seas. I also know what it is to get sea sick although I am thankful that I rarely did. I was one of the last people to do so out of over 300 souls aboard the ships I served aboard. They were all destroyer type ships. Noah and the others had their hands full caring for the many animals. They could not afford to be sea sick as they had work to do and it had to be done. Yes, God was in complete control the entire time.

And God does not change. Up until such time as anyone gets saved they are in charge … in control … of their life, but when a person gets saved they invite Jesus into their heart and life to come and take control. Up until that time we are a self made man or woman. We all need a make over … to be recreated … from the inside out. If we allow God to be the skipper He will set us on a new course and take us into unchartered waters … places and events that will surprise us and bless us. He is much better at it than we are. We won’t regret allowing Him to guide us thru life.

The only thing is we still have our rudder and motor and if we decide to use either of them they are still available to us. But to use them we have to kick Jesus out of the captain’s seat. He will relinquish that seat but we need to be aware that all we will accomplish is messing things up and experiencing a setback in the journey we are on. No good will come of it.

When Jesus gets aboard we can know that we are headed to the far shore on the other side and we will arrive there safely if we continue to abide in Him. We have His assurance of that. It is called “Blessed Assurance” … as Jesus in ours … and Oh what a foretaste of His glory divine. We are heirs … joint heirs with Jesus … as we travel this sod … as we are part of His family … the family of God. God has a big family and there is plenty of room in His family. He even has a big house with a room for everyone of us. And He has gone to prepare that room for any who will call upon Him inviting Him to take control of our lives. He says “Come unto Me”. Though your sin is as scarlet or crimson, they will be white as snow.

When a ship arrives to a port it will visit often times a person who knows the water way there very well will come out to the ship to board it and take control. They are called a pilot.

“A maritime pilot, marine pilot, harbor pilot, port pilot, ship pilot, or simply pilot, is a mariner who has specific knowledge of an often dangerous or congested waterway, such as harbors or river mouths. Maritime pilots know local details such as depth, currents, and hazards. They board and temporarily join the crew to safely guide the ship’s passage, so they must also have expertise in handling ships of all types and sizes.” Wikipedia

They do so to guide the ship to where it will be berthed assuring safe arrival without any incident. They know the currents in the water, any rocks or anything else which need to be avoided, everything about the area which may be of concern. Usually tug boats come out to take control moving the ship around. The pilot gives orders via radio to the tug boats. Rarely does a ship’s captain bring the ship in without help. It is not often they are qualified to bring the ship in without this help. The larger the ship the more of a concern it is and the more difficult it is to manuever a large vessel. I was on destroyer ships which were just shy of 400 feet long. That is 100 feet longer than a football field. That may sound plenty large but as ships go it is fairly small. An aircraft carrier is about 3 times as long. While I was in the Navy we had a couple of skippers who were capable of such ship handling. It was always impressive watching them get the ship moved into the proper position. There is a lot at stake as a ship that gets out of control can cause a lot of damage to itself as well as the pier, other ships and boats, etc. It is important that whoever who is at the controls knows what they are doing. Otherwise it could end up being disastrous.

The same is true of our lives. All of us need a pilot to see that we safely arrive and get docked okay. We see the sign or bumper sticker “God is my copilot”. That is not the way it should be. God should be our pilot not copilot. If He is copilot that means we are still in control sitting in the captain’s chair. We need to make some changes if He is our copilot. The late Billy Graham once said that if God is not Lord of all in our life than He is not Lord at all in our life. That is a rather hard statement to receive, but it is quite true.

Yes, Jesus wants to take control of our life, but He can’t unless we allow it. It is our choice. We alone have the say so as to whether we allow Him in the captain’s chair.