When I was younger, I had a book with all the Bible stories. It was a children's storybook so of course, it didn't go into depth but it still gave the overall message. I remember thinking, "okay, God talked to Noah and he listened". It looked like an easy enough task to me at that age but now my view has changed.
Genesis 6:8 (NKJV):
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis chapter 6 tells us about the state of mankind's heart in those days. The fear of the Lord was not present and people were just living life in a way that grieved God to the point where God regretted making mankind. The earth was corrupt, filled with violence and the intents of the thoughts of mankind's heart was evil continually.
It is good to remember that God sees our hearts and He knows our hearts. Besides the physical wickedness perpetuated by man on a daily basis, the states of their heart were just continuous evil. God was grieved in his heart and he was regretful. These are some of the feelings I have felt in my life and it was absolutely horrible but now imagine the scale of those emotions when God felt them. If you consider it this way, it makes the chapter even more profound.
I just truly wonder how I make God feel on a daily basis with my actions, thoughts, speech and the intents of my heart.
Back to Noah, for the purpose of this blog, I want to focus on Noah's faith. Faith is defined as believing in things not yet seen. When God told Noah that He was going to destroy the Earth, I would like to imagine that it wasn't something easy for him to digest or even wrap his head around. Firstly, there had never been floods on Earth and secondly, people were living their regular lives. Life was just normal to them. If I were in Noah's shoes, I would have a hard time accepting the destruction of Earth when there wasn't a "visible" sign that the end was near.
Noah's faith and obedience is really something that I feel is often underrated or not talked about enough. When reading the Bible, I like to analyse what the "great figures" of the Bible did to find favour in God's eyes. When I look at Noah, I see consecration. I see a man that was set apart, a man that did not compromise on his values with God. And lastly, a man that did not conform to the things of the world (Romans 12:2). He was not influenced by his surroundings, though he was surrounded by evil, he remained pure.
It would have been easy for Noah to doubt what God was saying if he focused on what was going on around him. This is why we are called to keep our eyes on Jesus in every circumstance. We are told that people were going on about their lives as usual, they were drinking, partying and even getting married. My key takeaway from the chapter is that when God speaks, I shouldn't look outside to validate what God is saying. I should trust him because if I seek validation elsewhere, I will be led astray or I will make room for doubt to take over.
Another interesting thing is, we don't even know if Noah was a skilled carpenter so the ability for him to build the ark just shows that when it comes to God, obedience gives God space to move. Noah was able to properly build the ark by the grace and power of God, This makes me think of the the book of Leviticus where the Israelites were building the tabernacle for God. The gifted artisans were gifted with wisdom and understanding from the Lord so that they could carry out the task at hand (Exodus 35:1-5).
This is just goes to show how intentional God is. He doesn't give instructions without provision.Once again, we go back to Exodus. When the Israelites left Egypt, the Egyptians gave them gold, silver and fabric among other things.
At first I was wondering why they needed all those things because they were going to be in the wilderness and then boom, God instructs them to build the tabernacle and the necessary materials required were already provided by God. I was in awe when I connected the dots. I was like WOW! God truly truly is intentional and He really is Jehovah Jireh. He provided for the Israelites even before the need was known.
This is a gentle reminder to be obedient to God believing and trusting that He will never leave nor forsake us. When God gives an instruction, He always gives the provision.
He gave Abraham an instruction to sacrifice Isaac, he provided the sacrifice.
He gave the Israelites the instruction to build the tabernacle, he provided the materials.
God is consistent, constant and faithful. He is still the same God to us as He was to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Circumstances may change but our God never changes!
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