Genesis 6
Genesis 6
At this point in history, the earth has become so evil and full of sin that the world had to be destroyed. Noah alone walked with God and was counted righteous because of his faith.
What stood out to me in this reading is the trust that Noah had in the Lord. This is obvious I suppose, but let’s think about the many things stacked against him to understand just how remarkable it is that he “did all that God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22).
These are the reasons why he is a hero of the faith. Noah is called a “herald of righteousness” in 2 Peter 2:5, and Hebrews 11:7 calls him also an “heir of righteousness,” meaning he completely believed what he preached.
The full verse (Hebrews 11:7) says, “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”
His faith was counted to him as righteousness, and it was proven through his trust and relentless obedience to God’s commands. It seems even with these herculean tasks, he did not balk or complain. Matthew Poole states, “The work of building the ark was laborious, costly, tedious, dangerous, and seemingly foolish and ridiculous; especially when all things continued in the same posture and safety for so many scores of years together; whereby Noah, without doubt, was all that while the song of the drunkards, and the sport of the wits of that age. So it is not strange that this is mentioned as an heroic act of faith.”
Walking with God means I obey His commands and be a light in a dark world even when there is opposition. Do you fully trust God, even when what He is asking you to do doesn’t make sense in our world?
By: Kaitlin White
At this point in history, the earth has become so evil and full of sin that the world had to be destroyed. Noah alone walked with God and was counted righteous because of his faith.
What stood out to me in this reading is the trust that Noah had in the Lord. This is obvious I suppose, but let’s think about the many things stacked against him to understand just how remarkable it is that he “did all that God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22).
- Told to build a boat in a desert, near no bodies of water when it had never even rained on the earth before (Genesis 7:11).
- It took 120 years to build, during which he was most likely actively mocked and ridiculed.
- Told to plan out the amount of food he would need for thousands of animals to last for over a year, and also think about how the animals would actually get onto the ark.
- Most shocking and discouraging to me is that through 120 years of ministry, it seems he saw no converts.
These are the reasons why he is a hero of the faith. Noah is called a “herald of righteousness” in 2 Peter 2:5, and Hebrews 11:7 calls him also an “heir of righteousness,” meaning he completely believed what he preached.
The full verse (Hebrews 11:7) says, “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”
His faith was counted to him as righteousness, and it was proven through his trust and relentless obedience to God’s commands. It seems even with these herculean tasks, he did not balk or complain. Matthew Poole states, “The work of building the ark was laborious, costly, tedious, dangerous, and seemingly foolish and ridiculous; especially when all things continued in the same posture and safety for so many scores of years together; whereby Noah, without doubt, was all that while the song of the drunkards, and the sport of the wits of that age. So it is not strange that this is mentioned as an heroic act of faith.”
Walking with God means I obey His commands and be a light in a dark world even when there is opposition. Do you fully trust God, even when what He is asking you to do doesn’t make sense in our world?
By: Kaitlin White
3 Comments
I really enjoyed this message Kaitlin! I have never so matter of factly considered just how crazy the things Noah did was, but he chose to be obedient anyway. He trusted Him with the big things, while I sometimes have trouble trusting Him with the small things.
I agree with Liz! It took some serious faith! He trusted in God without question. Getting all of the animals on one huge boat is amazing to me! God is in control and made it happen!
Thank you for this beautiful picture of what it means to REALLY trust God! This sets a high standard and a very clear one. Wow - oh to be like Noah!