There are some theological debates for the beginning of today’s reading. I will leave those questions to the theologians and focus on what we can learn. “When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” Notice two words, regretted and grieved. Mankind has the ability to grieve the heart of God because our very reason for existence to live in a love relationship with our Creator, yet our sin destroys that relationship. This one sentence reveals to us the very heart of God. Despite His grief, as we learned yesterday, His justice never operates apart from His love. His love for us is what caused His grief and it was His love for us that put His plan for redemption in motion. Immediately after we read God’s plan to bring justice to mankind’s rebellion, we see His plan for redemption unfolding. “Noah, however, found favor in the sight of the Lord….Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.” As we continue reading, do you notice the relationship the Noah and God share? They are speaking as if God were sitting right there beside Him, writing out the instructions for this thing called an ark. We also learn a little more about God’s character; He is a detail oriented God. We saw that in His creation and we see that in the very specific instructions that He gives to Noah. Also notice Noah’s obedience. Keep in mind that the earth had not experienced rain. There would have been no logical reason for this massive boat to be built, let alone spending 120 years building it. He would have been mocked, taunted and ridiculed. Yet, there is not one time recorded that Noah questions God. Then the rain begins. I wonder what those who mocked Noah thought when they saw the door to the ark close? The first thing I think of when reading this passage is that as a parent, how crucial it is to intentionally pass my faith down to my kids. Noah had a strong heritage of faith, passed down through the line of Seth and Enoch. Secondly, we see the kind of relationship God desires to share with us. Often as Christians, we want to do some grand thing for God. However, the purpose of our life is not simply what we do for God, but the relationship that we have with Him. Noah could have never been used by God to spare a remnant if he had not “walked with God.” God was able to use Noah because he was righteous and blameless. Further, Noah was able to follow those detailed instructions because he had an established relationship with God that allowed him to simply trust his Creator. Our focus must be on our relationship with Him. Noah simply walked with God and God used Noah to redeem mankind. We must stop seeking what we can do for God and start seeking God Himself. It is only then that God will be able to use our lives for His plan and purpose.
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