Genesis 7:1-7
1Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 2Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
6Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
Genesis 7:7 “… into the ark to escape the waters of the flood”. This is a great act of faith. If, as the most probable interpretation of 6:3 indicates, it took 120 years to build the ark, we are seeing great faith. There has never been rain. There is no indication 120 years before this rain comes that it is going to happen. God tells Noah to build the ark and the predicted judgement is over a hundred years from happening.
Faith in God is never a matter of instant reward. We believe God is true to His word no matter how much time lapses between the predicted event and its occurrence. Everything connected to Noah’s obedience in this event smacks of great faith. The last act of faith is him and his family boarding the ark. After 120 years they now believe that it is going to rain. And it did.
We need to govern our lives by the truth of the Word of God. We believe that our God is faithful to His word. God has graciously provided a means of salvation from sin. There is no salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ. There is a judgement coming that those not in Christ by faith will endure to the ruination of their eternal souls. There is a great reward for those who trust Christ and live in obedience to Him and the Gospel.
“By faith Noah … constructed an ark.” (Hebrews 11:7) God does not call us to exhibit less faith than he called Noah to show. The call for signs, evidence, proof etc. is a testimony of lack of faith. An adulterous generation seeks after a sign. Let us simply trust in the God who is, who cannot lie, who is working all things out after the counsel of His own will. And let us never grow weary of doing so.
This day, know that God is not slack concerning His promises to you. But He is not bound to do things according to your time table. Live by faith.
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