It is clear that Noah was made motivated by a deep and abiding respect for God and took the warning of God of this impending crisis very seriously. We know that Noah walked with God. And it is interesting to me that in these scriptures about Noah, Noah does not talk to God like Abraham and Moses did. If you will notice, Noah is only listening to what God has to say and he obeyed. He obeyed everything that God told him to do no matter how difficult it would be. There is no evidence at all that his faith in God ever wavered; and he accomplished a significant undertaking which consumed approximately 120 years. There is no implication of any hesitation of obedience to God on Noah's part.
After God's first set of instructions He gave him, Genesis 6:22 says, "Noah did everything just as God commanded him." And then in Genesis 7:5, it also says, "And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him." And he did not do just that. In II Peter 2:5, it says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. So during that 120 years, as he was building this enormous construction, he was preaching, he was warning people, and I am sure that Noah became very famous as they watched this huge vessel being constructed. And for what reason? And so I am sure that he had, probably, every day an opportunity to warn the people that they need to repent because there was an approaching doom.
Now, we can read all that in two or three minutes, and because it takes such a short time and it is just words on a page, we tend to ignore or dismiss the time element in all of this. God appears to call Noah to his task 120 years before the Flood. I am just assuming that. It is disputed that God told him at that time. But let us just take it as written, that God said there is 120 years, Noah has found favor in My eyes, this is what you are going to do.
And so he did it, and waited and waited and waited. Noah had to act in faith to build the ark as efficiently as possible so that it would be ready when God sent the Flood. And if God did not tell him that it was 120 years, he had to be ready at any time.
Noah was an exceptionally faithful man. It says that at the end of chapter 6, he did everything as God commanded. And actually, it said it several times throughout this story. Chapter 7, verses 5, 9, 16, I think that was the last time. But it is mentioned at least four times in Noah&39;s story that he did everything exactly as God commanded. And one of the things that he did perfectly was wait, wait with faith and righteousness. And when the Flood came, he was ready, the ark was ready, his family was ready.
So Noah is being told to do something physical in preparation for what was coming and going to happen to the world.
We should take note of that in our own lives today. That God told Noah to prepare for what he could see was coming and what God told him was coming to the world. We know what is coming to this world and we should take heed to this and be preparing ourselves for what is coming, because we do not know how much of it will have to go through. Hopefully not the Tribulation, but it can get pretty bad before that. So we should take this to heart about preparing. And that is what I mean by judgment because it can encourage people to prepare because knowing there is a coming judgment upon our nation or around the world that we do not want to end up being part of, we should prepare for that.
It takes faith and a lot of it. And we need God's help to be able to grow in faith.
Similarly, prior to the destruction of the firstborn in Egypt, the Lord graciously revealed to Moses the provisions for the Passover. Reminiscent of the description of Noah&39;s obedience, the Israelites are said to have prepared themselves according to the Lord's instructions. They obeyed and were spared.
In Genesis 6:8 it says that Noah received grace. He found grace in God's eyes. So have we. Noah found grace, but he had to apply himself. And as he applied himself, he was producing the very means of his safety during the coming storms. It shows us in Genesis 6:22 that Noah was obedient. But even if he had been obedient, and he was, Genesis 8:1 shows that even when things got at their worst, God was still there with him. Throughout all that he was going through, God was still giving Noah grace. He never left him.
There is hope because if God allows these times to parallel the days of Noah, He will also have things paralleling what He did for Noah. So He gives us that hope. And if we're alert and we pray always, meaning we're always in contact with Him, we pray to Him every day, we ask Him for the faith, we ask Him for the love, we ask Him for the guidance, we ask Him for the correction, we ask Him for whatever gift we need, He will give it so that we can rise to the occasion and glorify Him with our lives.
