Once upon a time in Bible history, God could no longer bear the evils of man, so much that he made a decision to destroy the earth and the people in it.
That must have been a hard decision to take because God loves the world so much. Noah lived in the middle of this chaos at the time, but he remained faithful and steadfast to God. God was impressed by his strong spirit and decided to give the world a second chance through him. Because the Almighty God had decided to use a flood for the destruction, He told Noah to build a residential three-floor ship that would be big enough to house each gender of every species of animal. Noah was essentially allowed to bring in his extended family.
God chose to use his lineage to create a new earth. Sometimes when God chooses to save us from evil, we might not even be aware of the purpose for which he has preserved us. Noah was special because he dared to be different in a world where evil had become the norm. He chose to defy the attractive desires of the world he lived in, and guess what? His children followed in his footsteps with their wives and their children too.
While the other people on earth continued in their waywardness, the Bible did not record that God stopped them from procreating. They grew in numbers as they grew in sin, and they taught their young ones to go against the lord. Therefore, sin kept multiplying. God saw that they were not going to change from their evil ways, and he decided to start a new world that would be free of their evils.
If Noah had been born in this dispensation, he would have been one to raise his children in the way of the lord, encouraging them to engage in activities that will grow their faith in Christ. This Righteous man already laid his life as a foundation for God to build on. Ask me how.
He was the only follower of God left on earth at the time. Can you beat that? It is difficult to imagine such unwavering faithfulness amid total lawlessness and disregard for God, but Noah’s story successfully taught us that it is possible. Over and over again, the Bible states that “Noah did everything just as God commanded.” His life of 950 years preached obedience.
He loved God totally and was fully committed to obeying every one of his commands, but he was not sinless. It sounds contradictory, but let me explain. We have often been misguided to see a commitment to God as being without sin, but they do not mean the same. We are flesh and spirit, and sometimes, the flesh will manifest its character, but what the blood of Jesus did for us on the cross is to give us the grace to have a spirit that can subdue the character of the flesh. As long as we are alive, it will rise in its capacity, but the Holy Spirit in us has given us power over it. The people on earth during Noah’s time had no understanding of this principle, so they fell prey to the desires of the flesh.
Noah had a weakness for wine; that was his only recorded sin. In Genesis, chapter 9, the Bible tells how Noah got so drunk and passed out in his tent, making himself an embarrassment to his sons. Even at that, God honored his words as he cursed the son who mocked him in his sullen state and blessed the ones who covered his nakedness without looking at him.
Can you tell why it was not emphasized more than once in the Bible? It is because he was already God’s choice, and he was following Him diligently. That is not to say getting drunk with wine is acceptable as a Christian; it just tells us that God does not see our weaknesses as sin as long as we do not thrive in it. We must be repentant and must never dwell in it on purpose. Even though God executed judgment because people refused to forsake sin, he still showed grace to those who were not perfect but trusted him.
God needed a world that would start on a foundation of faith, and Noah’s lineage became the means he used. Let me show you two smart reasons why Noah was the foundation of our Christian Faith.
1. He built something not yet seen or heard of, without experience.
A lot of us are always so interrogative when we receive instructions from God. We forget that if we know all things, we would no longer be man, but we still like to question him. Noah was a diligent follower of God. When God told him to build an ark on land but gave him the description of something that could float on water, he could have asked for more clarifications or even try to correct God like some of us will do. God even told him that destruction was coming to the land; yet asked him to make sure the ark was a three-story building. The scriptures did not record that Noah had any experience building houses, yet he built that ark.
We subtly challenge God’s instructions, stylishly giving him options that might suit our purpose. Noah did not even try to understand how it would look like; he just put on his garment of faith and started constructing. He never knew Jesus nor met Abraham, yet his faith had so much substance, enough to spur a new existence for God’s creation on earth.
2. He was a Rose that stood out amid Thorns
Noah was a man of complete integrity and character in his generation. If you have one rose plant in your garden, and it is in the middle of a lot of weeds that have grown so high above it, what would you do? You would not burn the whole garden to clear the weeds, would you? The best will be to protect your rose before cutting down those weeds.
That was what God did. He gave Noah’s lineage shelter before he destroyed the weeds in his generation. Noah was so precious to God because he had made himself a foundation of Godly living. He did not know what God’s plan was, but he was diligently obedient till he did. Noah defied the desires of the flesh and satisfied himself with drinking from the well of truth that God had given his forefathers. He searched deeply for God and found him, and most importantly, he carried his children along. He was privileged to be the chosen one not only because he was a faithful one, but because he had set a standard for his children in a world where everything was chaotic. If his children were like Samuel’s, things might have gone differently.
Are you available for God’s use? Do you easily compromise in difficult situations? Are you setting the pace for Christian living in your home? Most people focus on growing their faith personally and unconsciously neglect their children. The expansion of the Christian faith across the globe is not possible without the children. As much as we must work on their faith at home, we must also lean on the Children’s church to play its pivotal role. Digitization of Churches has made fellowship very easy to spread, and the children must not be left unattended.
ChurchPad has a children’s ministry product with robust features that make it easy to securely check-in/out children, index, and group family data, and helps maintain excellent care for your children within the church community.
