A huge building project – an antagonistic crowd and one stubborn man of faith… Noah

“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.  This is the account of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”

Genesis 6:8,9 NIV

 I have no idea whether Noah was stubborn with and around everybody, or just about his assignments from God. But I’ll tell you what I think.

Noah had to be a man of grace, patience and a work ethic that absolutely wouldn’t quit under any circumstances. He was obviously used to having God speak with and to him and must have been careful in the ‘obeying department’ as well. When we meet him at the apex of his life’s story, he has been relentlessly, daily, rain or shine, good years and bad ones… obeying an assignment God  had given him.

He was to build a boat. A very big boat! It would stretch in length about one and a half football fields and would be 75 feet wide and almost five stories high. Not exactly a ‘week-end project.’ No one knows precisely how long it took to complete, but estimates range from 5 years to several decades. It actually became Noah’s career.

Since God has always wanted every person on the planet to be saved, He must have included an additional add-on to the ark building task and prompted Noah to evangelize as well.

With passion and zeal and incredible determination, Noah took on God’s mission, knowing that God had determined to soon wipe mankind off the earth. Yet in spite of his disappointment and anger at the repeated rejection of His plans… He would give them an opportunity to repent.

Noah kept working. He would answer questions he felt were serious and legitimate, even taking time from his building project to plead with anyone showing real interest about God’s coming judgment. But he had no takers. Instead he probably suffered ridicule and laughter. Yet he persisted.

Some of us give up or give in too easily. But here’s God’s assessment of Noah faithfulness to his considerable task: “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Genesis 6:22 NIV

 Consider this devotional a call to unusual faithfulness, to spiritual persistence, to ‘won’t-bend-to-any-temptation’ to wander off or quit. God hasn’t asked you to build a boat or preach like Billy Graham, but He has asked you to follow Him into any assignment he assigns you, and has promised to be with you and fill you with enough joy to last for eternity.