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| "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." |
In considering Noah’s faith and obedience to God, I am immediately reminded of the 2007 movie “Evan Almighty”. In this movie Steve Carrell is portrayed as Evan Baxter and Morgan Freeman plays the part of God. This movie actually sheds a lot of light on the aspects of the Biblical account of Noah and the ark. Here, Evan Baxter is not a professional boat builder, but rather a professional newscaster who has been elected to Congress. Noah in the Biblical account wasn’t a carpenter or ship maker either.
Evan Baxter moves his family to Virginia and once there, his life gets turned totally upside-down when God appears to him and commands him to build an ark. Evan Baxter tries to get his family to help him on this project, but none of them seem too amused and they wonder if he is having the biggest mid-life crisis ever. His wife is worried about his sanity and decides the safest action is to leave him. Even with all the ridicule, Evan Baxter is compelled to be obedient to God and follow His instructions, so he proceeds to build an ark. He even purchases vacant lots in his neighborhood, because he knows the ark will be about the size of the Titanic. The most fantastic parts about this film are how Evan Baxter (Noah) aged from day to day and the trials he encountered in completing the task God (Morgan Freeman) had given him. Fellow Congressman Long, portrayed by John Goodman, wants him suspended and set up for public ridicule.
Only through faith and obedience was the ark ever completed. When the flood came, it was not from the sky, but from a broken dam that had been poorly constructed in preparation for the building of a sub-division in a public park proposed by the corrupt Congressman Long.
The Biblical account of Noah and the ark is found in the book of Genesis, Chapter 6. Here we find a record of God’s resentment for all the sin and corruption in the old world, His displeasure for even creating mankind, His resolution to punish it and His favor for a man named Noah. We must take a close look at the book of Genesis 6:7-9:
“And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. “
“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”God had placed Noah above all men because of his honesty, his integrity and his unyielding faith.
Hebrews 11:7
“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”God had examined the character of every person on earth and had found only one good person, Noah. When God made Noah the only vessel of His mercy, Noah was probably placed in a very difficult situation. He was hated and persecuted by all mankind, but for Noah, God’s grace was comfort enough.
We are taught a very important lesson by Noah’s character. It teaches us that it is very easy to be religious when religion is fashionable, but only through strong faith and resolution are we able to swim upstream to Heaven.
In Genesis 6: 17 God told Noah how He would destroy the world.
“And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”In verses 14 and 18 of Genesis, Chapter 6, God established a covenant with Noah and promised him that he could save himself and his family by building an ark.
“Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.”Noah was given very specific instructions on how to build his ark. It is important to understand here that God could have saved Noah and his family by sending an angel or by any other miraculous means, so why did He choose such a complicated task? God wanted Noah to make his own means of preservation as a final trial of his faith and obedience and to teach all of us that only by putting our faith into action can we be saved.
Noah could have questioned God’s instructions for any number of logical reasons. Why would a God who had created the world and everything upon it, destroy it? Why should innocent creatures die for man’s sin? How could there ever be enough water to cover the entire world? If God really intended to destroy the world, why did He just tell one family? In spite of all the questions Noah could have had, his faith triumphed over all reasoning. Noah went about the work at hand without murmuring or disputing God’s will.
Noah didn’t ask his friends or neighbors to help him build this boat for he knew they would only mock and ridicule him, so he finished the ark just the way God had instructed him to build it. Noah did tell everyone about the flood that was to come, but no one listened. Now, you would think that watching someone building a boat about the size of the Titanic would get your attention, right? So, why didn’t anyone else build a boat?
The flood waters came and all mankind was destroyed except for Noah and his family.
If God spoke to one of us today and commanded us to do something extraordinary, what would we do? Would we offer up some of today’s excuses like, “I’m too busy”, “What would my friends say or think”,”Let me think about it”, “I don’t want people to think I’m too religious”? Could we possibly summon the faith to be an obedient servant to God’s will like a man called Noah?
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