The Meaning Of Life

This is a story about faith.

8 Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

It is important that we remember there is no one without sin. We are born into sin, and we must fight it our entire lives. There was only one perfect human, and that was Jesus Christ when he walked the earth in human form.

Even though Noah was a sinner, a drunkard to be exact, he was still good enough that God recognized his efforts and realized that Noah was not as sinful as those around him.

9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence. 12 And God looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt; for all living creatures on the earth had corrupted their ways.

Does verses 11 and 12 sound familiar? Are they describing the earth as we live in today? There are shootings, and stabbings, and beatings, and corruption, and the killing of infants in the womb, and just a complete disregard for God. And who is to blame for that?

Satan. Satan is working hard today just as he did in the Garden of Eden when he told the first lie, when he tempted his first human, when he led Adam and Eve away from God. Satan is causing people to have murderous hearts, sinful hearts, selfish hearts. And every person who sins and turns from God pleases him.

Now I can’t be for sure, but I can imagine the world was a really bad place. God wouldn’t send a Great Flood if there was any hope left for it. Now I’m trying really hard to study God’s Word and only God’s Word. I’m not smart enough to differentiate between good and evil, so I am really trying to distance myself from the teachings of man. The Bible does not say, but Bible stories tell how Noah preached and tried to convince people to repent. And why the Bible doesn’t elude to any of that, it makes sense to me. God isn’t going to send a Great Flood without giving everyone a chance at redemption. Keep in mind, there was no Bible in those days. Moses had not yet finished the Decalogue. Word of God was spread mouth to mouth. So, very likely, God gave everyone a fair chance to repent and to be saved; they chose not to.

13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all living creatures has come before Me, because through them the earth is full of violence. Now behold, I will destroy both them and the earth.

14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 And this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. 16 You are to make a roofe for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks.

17 And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

19 And you are to bring two of every living creature into the ark—male and female—to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are also to take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and gather it as food for yourselves and for the animals.”

22 So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.

God was very specific in his blueprint for the ark. He is the Master Builder, and I have no doubt he knew exactly how large it had to be to hold Noah and his family along with all the animals. It had to be large enough for enclosures for the different animals, and it had to be large enough to hold food supplies for both Noah’s family and the animals.

Now, what would you do? If God’s voice suddenly came into your ears or heart, and told you to build a boat the size of a football field, would you do it? Could you do it? Think how much time Noah had to invest in this endeavor. I have no idea what Noah’s job was or how he derived his income, but it had to have taken a backseat to God’s command to build an ark. Could you quit your job in order to build a boat for God? Could you?

Noah was a man of great faith. God gave him an assignment that had to appear not only to be half baked, but required him to have faith enough to do it, even though he was probably ridiculed daily and thought of as a nut. Would you be willing to give up your status, to give up your reputation, to humble yourself enough to do this?

Despite Noah’s sins, he was a great, great man and a true follower of God. And the best part is, we descended from him.

Father in Heaven, please give us faith. You tell us that if we have the faith of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. Noah’s faith was much, much greater than that of a mustard seed. Praise Noah for his faith, and praise You for you creation and your mercy. Amen.