SCRIPTURE: Genesis 6" href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=51&passage=Genesis+7">Genesis 7
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Noah had a heart for God. He must have felt very lonely in the world, since he was the only one who stayed true to God. Notice that he does not allow peer pressure to turn him away from God. This is an encouraging example for those who live or work in go to school in a place where there seem to be no other Jesus-followers.
Although we hear that Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God – God accepts his family with him. This is a lesson in covenant grace, how God’s favour extends to believers and their children.
Not only was Noah faithful in building the ark, he was also a living witness to his neighbours, warning them of the impending doom and pleading with them to repent and believe. This is something that I have been praying through, to be more concerned about the life-direction of my neighbours, and more bold in gently speaking the truth, not being judgmental, but warning them of the consequences of life without God.
In today’s climate with an abundance of lukewarm and fanatical churches, as well as church scandals, it can seem as foolish to our neighbours to build a church as it is to build an ark. Do I believe that the church is the hope of the world? Well, not really… Jesus is the hope of the world. The church is the voice and hands and feet of Jesus, when its working well. But Jesus is the hope of the world!
I hear the Lord calling me to remember my task as a messenger of hope and of Jesus to a people that are perishing without Him. I need to model and to share the message of Jesus. The day of judgment is coming, but not yet. Until then, I must speak for Jesus, and call people to back to Him.
PRAYER:
Lord, empower me to be a bold and faithful messenger for you, even if people ridicule me for it.
I love the phrase in verse 5,
“And Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him”
Why is this so hard to do today? Is it because we feel we have too many choices on what we feel God is commanding us to do? For Noah, it seems pretty straightforward – build the ark. Fill the ark. Close the door.
I guess though that in each of those phases, there are a million details to be taken care of – wow! But there again, that is the key, you can’t worry about filling the ark if you haven’t started phase 1 yet, and that is to build the ark!
Also, I love trying to picture the timeframes for things … so if we translate the time given when it started to rain into our calendar system, then picture that on February 17th it starts to rain. And it rains until the end of March. Then picture that you have to float on this vast ocean seeing no land until November.
Wow – thats a faith builder!
This is HUGE! What an undertaking for Noah, such great responsiility was placed upon him. So many details, so much was asked of him. How often does God ask ‘little’ things of me/us and yet I/ we grumble and complain? God knew Noah was capable, God entrusted Noah to complete this task ‘just as He commanded’. When God asks me/ us, He knows I / we too are capable and could complete it ‘just as He commanded’ yet I /we don’t allow God to take care care of the details with everything falling into place – I/ we fret, fuss and worry – NOT ‘just as God commands us to do’!
I wonder if at any time after the flood came, did Noah feel the burden of the lives that had been lost? How God’s heart must have ached for the distruction of all that He had created to be good and wonderful?
I see the promise of God’s covenant of grace in this chapter – Noah’s family was saved alongside of him because Noah had a heart for God. Noah was obedient to God- that was an obvious priority in Noah’s life.
LORD, give me a Spirit of obedience to You at all cost. I am always so concerned about what others might think, how it might look and this has kept me at times from making obedience to You my number one priority. LORD, I desire to be hungry for Your approval NOT the approval of others. Help me deal with this weakness so that I might be free from this stronghold in my life. Grant me freedom in Christ so that I might live ‘just as You have commanded’! For it’s only in Your will that I am free! Thank You LORD for Your promises.
The Lord had found Noah righteous and therefor saved him and his family. That word righteous reminds me of Abraham, pleading with God about the righteous of Sodom and Gamorrah. Walking and talking with the Lord these rightrous men did. They heard the voice of the Lord and did what was asked, in spite of all odds.The Lord God was their Guide. He was their strength and mighty tower. He was their Source of Life and in Him they have a new beginning.
In my walk today, help me Lord to stand up for Jesus. Speak to me that I may hear Your voice loud and clear. Thank You for Christ Jesus that I too have a new beginning each day in His power. Help me be a living witness this day for Him.
Lord, speak to me that I may speak
In living echoes of Thy tone;
As Thou has sought, so let me seek
Thine erring children lost and lone.
O lead me, Lord, that I may lead
The wandering and the wavering feet;
O feed me, Lord, that I may feed
Thy hungering ones with manna sweet.
O strengthen me, that while I stand
Firm on the rock, and strong in Thee,
I may stretch out a loving hand
To wrestlers with the troubled sea.
O teach me, Lord, that I may teach
The precious things Thou dost impart;
And wing my words, that they may reach
The hidden depths of many a heart.