Question:

Why did God make people like Noah do things that made him seem so strange (building an ark when there was no rain)?

Answer:
The unsaved world never understands the ways and thoughts of a Christian.  They are foreign to them: 1 Corinthians 1:27 – “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 2:14 – “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

God wanted Noah to trust Him, which he did—believing that what God asked him to do was for the best and this is what Noah did: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Hebrews 11:7). What God told Noah to do (build an ark to the saving of his family) was not “strange” to even those who perished when the flood came!

God has the best for you, even though He has “appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man [Jesus] whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“Flee [to Christ] from the wrath to come” (Matthew 3:7). “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “Time is short” (1 Corinthians 7:29). Tomorrow may be too late!