Hey all! The hero for today is NOAH. I’m sure we have all heard of the story of Noah’s Ark, but let’s study this in depth today! The main thing that we have to learn from this hero is OBEDIENCE and FAITH.

For those who are not so familiar with Noah’s story, you can refer to [Genesis 6 – 9] for more information! In Genesis 6, God was grieved because of the evilness of mankind on Earth, and He decided to wipe mankind away from the face of the earth. However, there was one man on earth whom found favor with God and that man was Noah. God wanted to bring floodwaters on earth to destroy all life. But He commanded Noah to build an ark for him and his family, and also for two of every living creature. God gave complicated instructions for Noah to follow but in the Bible it was simply said, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him”. [Genesis 6:22]

The following are some of the lessons I think we should learn from Noah:

1) Noah displayed great obedience by completing the difficult task of building the ark. [Gen 6:14,22] God gave comprehensive instructions to follow. Noah even had to bring two of every living animal up onto the ark with him. This idea of building an ark must seemed to be very ridiculous for the people of that time. However, Noah simply responded by faithfully following every instruction and completing the task, which demonstrated the great amount of obedience he had towards God. Never once did Noah complain to God nor did he question God. He simply did what God commanded him. I believe many of us have doubted or questioned what God has asked us to do. It is hard to respond like Noah –without doubting nor questioning.

2) Noah demonstrated great faith even in an unbelieving world. In [Gen 6:5] it is said, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Even though the world was unbelieving, Noah still stood out as a man with great faith and absolute obedience towards God. This is the Bible’s account of Noah, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” In our lives, we face many temptations and distractions too, people around us may discourage us from our walk with God. Despite Noah being in such a world, he knew that he could always choose to right with God. I really encourage you to choose to be a Noah in your world today too. Let God’s account of you be the same, to be “righteous”, “blameless” and always “walking with God”.

3) Obedience is a long-term commitment. Obedience is not saying “Yes” to God, and then turning away to do our own things. It is saying “Yes” to God and following it through with actions, taking a commitment to fulfill what we have promised to obey God in the first place. Imagine if Noah had said “Yes” to God yet didn’t follow God’s every instruction, or even worse, didn’t fulfill what he said. The results would be rather disastrous. The building of the ark was a long project that Noah kept to till the end. What are the arks that God is commanding us to build in our lives? Are we following it through with long-term commitment?

If you refer to the picture at the beginning of the post, you can see a rainbow in the picture. This represents God’s covenant with us. This is what God said in [Gen 9:13-15], “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.” Let this also be a reminder to us of the importance of being obedient to God in our lives! God is faithful and will be gracious to deliver those who obey Him in faith.

Think of the areas in our lives that requires obedience from us towards God. As it is said, partial obedience is not obedience. Do ponder carefully over these areas and commit these areas to God once again.

And whenever we see a rainbow, do also remember to whisper a simple prayer to God (: Thanks for persevering till the end!

Love,
Sharlene (: