As Noah Walked

"Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God."

Genesis 6:9

In the midst of a decaying culture so violent God had determined to destroy it with a great flood, one man stood out. A godly man. A man who didn't follow the crowd. A man who walked through his life with God. His name was Noah. Imagine the pressure society placed on Noah to conform. He was probably labeled a Goody Two-Shoes, Holier Than Thou Believer by his neighbors. Perhaps he was called ignorant by the enlightened thinkers of his day. Or maybe the community just considered him a religious nut to be avoided. No matter how Noah was treated by others, he didn't cave in to popular opinion. He was a man of faith and obedience. He took God at His word and did all God told him to do. His faith and obedience were rewarded. God spared Noah and his family in the ark Noah built. Lest we think Noah's life and story have no bearing on us today, consider Jesus' words in Matthew 24: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be." Jesus is speaking of His second coming. We don't when this will occur, but it could be in our lifetime. May we never walk like those who "did not understand until the flood came and took them all away." Instead, may we walk as Noah walked: with God in faith and obedience.