By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Hebrews 11:7 NKJV
I was reading about Noah recently, and I saw certain details about the man and his faith for the first time. God had told Noah that He was going to destroy the rest of mankind because of the wickedness He saw on the earth and in man. Noah had been instructed to build an ark with specifications.
Godly Fear
The Book of Hebrews says he moved with godly fear. What is godly fear? It means to act cautiously, circumspectly. His faith drove him to action. God had never done this before; there was no reference point to this. I wonder how he must have imagined it. However, he moved and prepared the ark.
Now, we don’t know exactly how long Noah must have prepared the ark. Some say 120 years from Genesis 6:3, others say around 100 years if you calculate the time Noah had his 3 sons and when the flood came. Whatever the case might be, it would have taken a couple of years to fully complete this. What was he thinking as he built, and what questions did he have to answer?
Somebody: “Noah, what are you doing?”
Noah: “I am building a structure”
Somebody: “I can see that, but what exactly is this structure?”
Noah: “It is like a boat, to move on water”
Somebody: “Water? Are you now into fishes?”
Noah: “I am building this boat, because God is going to destroy the world with water”
Somebody: “Hahahahahahahaha”
Just maybe this is one of the many conversations that Noah had. The Bible calls him a preacher of righteousness
and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 2 Peter 2:5 NKJV
Noah told people about the destruction coming into the world, and they didn’t repent
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Matthew 24:37-39 NKJV
They didn’t listen to him; they went on with their lives as if everything he said was a lie. Faith is not guesswork; it is surety in what the Lord has said.
After Noah went into the ark, the Bible says the Lord shut Noah in, and then there were 7 days of “silence”. Noah and the people in the ark just waited. God told him that rain would come after 7 days. I wonder how the people outside will have laughed at those in the ark. They couldn’t even come out, and then the rains came and all died except those that were in the ark.
Faith requires you to know the will of God and stand by it because He stands by it.
