• Learning From Their Life: Noah

    By: Kristen L. McNulty

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

    We're continuing on in our Learning From Their Life series by taking a look at Noah's life, as told to us in the book of Genesis.

    Picture this. You are living a relatively normal life among your friends and neighbours when one day you get instructed by the Lord to build a boat. And we aren’t talking about fashioning a canoe out of a tree, we are talking about building a boat that is 450 feet long and this in the time before power tools and saw mills. Noah received the call to do so from God because unlike his friends and neighbours who were caught up in sin and evil, Noah found favour with God (Genesis 6:8).

    NOAH LIVED RIGHTEOUSLY


    So why did Noah find favour with God? We are told in Genesis 6:9 where it tells us,

    "Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God." Genesis 6:9 NLT


    Noah could have gotten swept up in the influence of seemingly everyone else around him who had stopped following God and instead followed every whim of evil, but Noah did not. The Bible describes him as a righteous man who walked in close fellowship with God. Showing us that even if we are surrounded by temptation and sin at every turn, we too can walk in the ways of God. Our world and our culture aren’t excuses to give up the fight against sin. No, instead of being carried away by the tidal wave of evil we see around us, we should follow the example of Noah and instead draw closer to God. When we do, we are promised in scripture that God will come close to us and His presence in our lives changes everything! Going over to the book of James,

    "So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor." James 4:7-10 NLT


    NOAH DIDN'T ALLOW OBSTACLES TO STOP HIM


    Noah didn't allow the temptations around him to stop him from following the Lord our God and Noah didn't allow anything to hold him back from the task God called him to complete.

    Think of all the obstacles Noah must have faced in building the ark. We aren’t told specifics of how long it took, but if it takes contractors months and months to build a home with large crews, prefab materials and power tools, can you imagine how many years it must have taken Noah to accomplish the project? But he didn’t give up, he kept building the ark one board at a time one day, month and year at a time. 

    Noah kept his eye on the task and didn’t allow himself to get swept up in sin or the banquets and parties we are told in Matthew 24 that were happening all around him. Noah had a job to do and he didn’t stop until he was done. 

    Can the same be said of you and I?

    When we commit to something at church do we back out when another more attractive invitation comes our way?

    When we start the work of launching a ministry do we give up because it’s harder than we thought or is taking longer than we thought?

    When we build relationships with our friends and neighbours to share the love of Jesus with them, do we back off when the going gets tough?

    When we encounter someone in need physically, emotionally or spiritually do we ignore the need because now is really not a good time for us or so we think?

    Noah shows us that tasks God has for us can be difficult and can take a lot of our time. Sometimes it would be easy to fall into the temptation of thinking if a task is hard then it means it’s okay to stop, but that’s not what Scripture shows us. Let’s face it, God in His might could have supernaturally built an ark and only given Noah the task of entering it. But he didn’t. He let Noah toil for likely years of hard work among people who probably couldn’t wrap their heads around why Noah was building such a large boat on dry land. Noah's story shows us that God doesn’t always hand us a completed project, but instead invites us into the building process. Think of it, the God of heaven and earth has a job to do with your name on it. He could perform all of these tasks on His own, but He lets you and I be a part of building His kingdom. It is an honour and it is an important responsibility, one we need to commit to and not stop until it is carried out.

    Will we be like Jonah who ran away from the task (Jonah 1)?

    Will we be like Demas who abandoned Paul and the ministry because he loved the things of this world (2 Timothy 4)?

    Or will we be like Noah who saw through what God called him to until the job was done?

    In Genesis 6:22 it is said "So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him." Let's make it our aim and mission to have the same said of us.

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