With the advance of modern technology many people question or deny the existence of God. Many are unsure that religion has any validity, yet there is a yearning to find answers to questions like: “Who and what am I?” “Is there such a thing as Deity?”

Mosaic law and theology that evolved from it have portrayed God as knowing good and evil. This view of God presents Him as creating people who can sin and stray, and then punishing them for doing so. So long as we believe in this kind of God, or a Deity that is remote, distant—a theory without proof, or the product of outmoded beliefs—then the lack of faith or belief in God may seem understandable. 

Yet there is another view, one that I find reliable and provable. Many people have Bibles that are rarely opened, yet contained within the pages of this book are overwhelming proofs of God’s goodness and love for His creation. These proofs show that the relation between God and man is one of love, inseparability, and protection. 

The current mental climate, filled with doubt and even rejection of God, reminds me of the times of Noah, where the hearts of people were far from God (see Genesis 6:11–13).

Noah, was the exception, however. The Bible says, “Noah was a just man” who “walked with God” (Genesis 6:9).

Noah walked with God, and in doing so he learned to really listen to the voice within, or spiritual intuition. Centuries later, Jesus Christ said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). All of God’s unfolding, benevolent, and beneficial intuitions and inspirations are right within the consciousness of each one of us. Through Noah’s communing with God, divine Mind, inspiration came. He knew that he and his family should seek safety in the ark God was inspiring him to build. His neighbors may have laughed disdainfully, decried him, but he carried on.

When he received God’s instructions, he acted on them. The genius of understanding God in all circumstances is its practicality. God gives us intelligent thoughts that can be translated into the right human action. Noah was led to build a huge boat, which safely housed him, his family, and the animals God inspired him to save. 

Through Noah's communing with God, divine Mind, inspiration came.

Today, we don’t need to build a material ark such as the one Noah had in order to gain a feeling of safety in times of turmoil. Mary Baker Eddy translates the material sense of the ark into a spiritual view. In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, she writes: “Ark. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved to be as immortal as its Principle; … The ark indicates temptation overcome and followed by exaltation” (p. 581).

For me, Psalm 91 beautifully describes the safety this ark provides: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (verse 1). Noah’s ark represents much more than a boat; it is the security of knowing we dwell forever under God’s protection and presence. 

When a fall, a flood, or some dire circumstance occurs in our lives, this knowledge can guide us to safety. I was once faced with a threat of drowning in the North Atlantic, off Northern Ireland. I was in a small boat, whose engine had conked out. My son of ten and nephew of thirteen were also in the boat. 

At that time there were no cellphones, and I had no flares with me. We were about six miles from the harbor where we had launched. A storm had arisen with high winds. Waves were breaking over the little boat, and bailing was necessary. We had rowed for nearly an hour in the direction of the harbor, but we hadn’t moved much against the wind and tide, and no one had spotted us. 

I sat quietly in the stern and turned to God. These thoughts, among many, came: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; … In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6). And, “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me” (Psalms 139:9, 10). I tried to put out all fear and to trust. 

I felt a greater sense of calm. By listening to the spiritual intuition that came, I was led to row a completely different course, heading toward the high cliffs of the Giant’s Causeway, about three miles away. This didn’t seem like a wise move. The boys expressed incredulity, for they saw the huge waves breaking over the rocks, but I was obedient, like Noah, to God’s message. 

An amazing thing happened. Although I had been rowing for what seemed like only a couple of minutes, suddenly the cliffs were only a few hundred yards away. Then I saw a gap in the rocks, the only safe opening in the cliffs for about four miles as we learned later. It seemed inevitable that we should find it, that we couldn’t miss it. Behind this gap in the rocks there was a calm lagoon. I gave thanks to God for this ark of safety, of rescue. 

We can rise above all destructive elements in the ark of the Lord, in His calm shelter from the storm, where there is no sinking, or drowning. Noah and his family rose above the waves and the storm, and we, too, can rise above all negative influences, fear, and suggestions of impending disaster. Christ Jesus stilled a storm and walked on the water. We might not be able to walk on water yet, but we can still any tempest of fear as Noah did, by building our own ark—our own spiritual sense of God’s love and care. Trust in God is our mental, unassailable superstructure, and it lifts us up to a heightened sense of our oneness with God. 

Every victory over any form of evil or challenge brings us an elevated sense of well-being, of our inalienable, unbreakable oneness with God, a consciousness filled with gladness, gratitude, and peace.