A Reason to Believe

Growing up in church I quickly became familiar with the story of Noah and his ark full of animals. However I was not familiar with how Noah’s faith was nurtured to shine forth in this historical moment. This post aims to take a closer look at Noah’s faith in action.

Turn with me to Genesis chapter 6. This chapter tells the well-known story in the bible about a man named Noah. The story starts out with an overview of how the people and the society they lived in operated. Earth had a population growth spurt and mankind was reproducing and forming communities at a significant rate. The bible highlights that the women were beautiful and attracted the attention of spiritual beings with whom they had sexual relations. We can surmise that it was a regular practice to interact with the spiritual world through a means separate from God. The state of mankind’s morality had degenerated to such a state that God concluded that they were greatly evil so much so that he was grieved at His heart. The world at that time was ungodly and pursued their own pleasure.

It is in this context that we are presented with Noah. He is a righteous man who chose to walk with God. God therefore selects him to carry on the lineage of humanity in a world cleansed from the evil that had polluted it. He is told by God to make an Ark because He is going to flood the earth and destroy everything He had created except for those who are found in the ark. What happens next is recorded as an example of faith that we should all emulate: Noah did everything the Lord told him. Hebrews 11 summarizes this story with this statement Noah was moved with fear at the warning of God and so built an ark to the saving of his house. Noah believed that what God said was true and so he obeyed the word spoken to him.

Counter to the Culture

The first thing the lord showed me is that Noah was living a life that went against the norms and conventions of his time. The world at that time were bent on fulfilling their evil imaginations and engaging in ungodly activities. They had no desire to seek God’s face or live in obedience to His word. Noah was different and was the only one who dared to be different in that time period. He went against the popular opinion of his time and chose to walk daily with God. Noah probably stuck out like a sore thumb among his contemporaries. Noah lived a life of daily obedience to the leading and direction of God. Noah was actively resisting the evil around him and confronting the influences of evil in his life day by day. The bible says that Noah walked with God which indicates that Noah was filled with humility to listen and obey the Lord’s direction and trusted the voice of God. Noah didn’t have the bible to guide him and so he would have had to habitually hide the word of God in his heart and meditate upon it in order to remember and to live his life by it Psalm 119:10-11. Noah knew the voice of God and trusted His word therefore he obeyed.

Don’t disqualify your faith

The second point the lord showed me was that Noah had no idea what an Ark was! There was never any need for a vessel of that size that could float on water. There is no mention that Noah was a sea farer or a boatman. For all we know Noah had no knowledge or experience with building and sailing a boat much less an ark! Commentaries note that the earth had never seen a flood of that nature before therefore Noah had no reasonable expectation of a flood. Yet the bible clearly outlines that Noah immediately went to work building an ark simply at the command of God. Noah had every reason not to build but he had one reason to obey, the God he knows and trusts told him to build so he built. Noah never looked upon his limitations and disqualified himself from what God called him to do. He never reasoned away the word of God. He relied in humility upon the wisdom and instruction of God to fulfil the calling of God upon his life.

Faith in God is costly

The third point the lord brought to my attention was that acting in obedience to God’s word cost Noah something. It wasn’t easy building that ark. Chopping down trees of that size and shaping them into lumber and gathering the pitch to coat the huge ark inside and out and just the effort to put it all together must have cost Noah a whole lot of time, resources and energy. Noah no doubt would have had his questions but he never let the questions waiver him in his pursuit of obeying God’s word. He knew God after having walked with Him for so long and he trusted that the God who said it will perform it. I don’t fear my baby cousin dressed in police clothes saying ‘I’m going to arrest you Anna!’ Why? Because I don’t believe he has the capacity to fulfill what he is saying to me. Noah was moved with fear at the word of God because he believed that God spoke only the truth and what He said He will surely do. Therefore the cost to obey didn’t matter to Noah and that’s why he ended up gaining the salvation for himself and his family. Noah’s inward faith was expressed by his outward obedience to God and it is through his faith filled obedience to God’s word that he and his family gained salvation.

Faithful obedience brings Salvation

Consider how this same process of faith was found in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the first and only messiah this world will ever have and he carried the weight of saving all mankind from their sins. There was no previous experience to draw from and there was every reason not to obey the will of God for His life yet still He obeyed in faith. The price He had to pay in order to fulfill the calling of God upon His life was the highest price no other man could pay. Obeying the word of God for His life cost Jesus Christ everything He could give. The burden was enough to have Him cry out God if there is another way…nevertheless not my will but thine be done.’ It is in the obedience of Jesus Christ that salvation was made available to us.

The Test of Faith

Recently I was given an assignment by my Lecturer which I thought was very difficult for me to do. I had a hard time understanding the questions and trying to complete the assignment. I started to think this is really hard! I began to feel hard pressed and a little stupid because this assignment was difficult and I had never done this type of assignment before. I began to feel aggrieved for myself because I found this assignment quite difficult to complete. The Holy Spirit sat me down and said to me ‘Anna, do you believe that I have placed you in school?’ I said yes lord. He said, ‘do you believe that I inspired the lecturer to give this assignment?’ I said yes lord. He said, ‘do you believe that I would ever want you to feel stupid by giving you a hard assignment knowing that you can’t do it?’ I paused here because I realized what my reasoning was actually saying, God is not good and He would walk me through something that made me feel less than who he created me to be; stupid. This is the subtle lies the enemy whispers through our doubtful reasoning; ‘is God really good? Can you really trust him?’ The enemy will always try to distort the image of God in our minds and cause us to believe a lie about God’s person and character instead of embracing the truth of who God is: Good.

Dare to Believe

So I looked at Noah’s story again and saw all the reasons not to believe God; there had never been a precedence for a flood, he had no experience as a carpenter, this project would be hard and costly to complete and he had no evidence that God would do what He said He would. Noah’s faith wasn’t an overnight blooming rather it was forged each day he chose to walk in obedience to God. Noah did not reason himself out of faith rather he brought his reasons to obey down to one: God said to do it so I will do it. How many times do we reason ourselves out of faith? How many times do we disqualify ourselves because of our inexperience and limitations? How many times have we believed a lie about who God is and what He is willing and able to do in our lives? Noah learned something about the nature of God through his faith filled obedience to God’s word. He learned that God is faithful. God who had every right to wipe mankind off the face of the earth and start afresh was willing to try with sinful man again. God didn’t wash his hands and leave us in the state we were in rather He came close and offered us salvation through His grace and mercy. He never left us alone in our sin. He was right here with us. Noah learned that God is faithful to His word to perform it. He learned that God’s love never fails us. Through this trial Noah was able to know God in a way he had never known him before and to experience the faithful love of God in a way he had never felt before. All this was possible because Noah didn’t lean on his own understanding but trusted the God he knew.

I recognized I was feeling stressed because I was looking upon my own resources and limitations. I decided to seek the help and wisdom of God instead of relying on my own strength. I kid you not the moment I declared that God is good in this moment and trusted in His provision the answers flowed and I was able to complete that assignment on time. I ended up receiving an excellent grade for that course. I invite you to trust in the lord and rely upon His strength to uplift you in the test.

Faith Reflections

• What did Noah do to grow his faith in God daily?
• What is the lie our doubts cause us to believe about God?
• What is the benefit of faith filled obedience to God’s word?
• Why was Noah moved with fear?

Prayer

Father of my faith I ask you to help me grow this seedling of faith from a seed to a mighty tree. I repent for leaning on my own understanding and believing a lie about your nature and power. I ask for grace to lean not on my own wisdom but to trust in your goodness. I commit myself to hearing and hiding Your word in my heart. Father I ask that you bring forth the increase of faith in my heart. Help me to trust and believe that what You speak You are willing and able to perform in my life. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.