7 By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen,
respected the warning and built an ark to save his household;
by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.
Hebrews 11:7-8
We are going through a litany of heroes and heroines of the Christian faith, listed in Hebrews 11 in the New Testament. The writer started with creation, though, and today we touch the flood, thus finishing a review of the heroes of that first epoch of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scriptures. We all agree on the basics of the story of Abel and Cain sons of Adam, Enoch and Noah. Noah was the grandson of Enoch whom we pondered yesterday. According to the time lines given in Genesis, whether you consider years or rainy seasons or whatever, would indicate all these men could have potentially lived concurrently. We see from the murder by Cain of his brother Abel, a widening gulf though between the life styles of their descendants. Seth, the son after Abel who was killed seems to be the grandfather of those who sought God and Cain’s descendants were the people who drifted more and more into godless lifestyles involving murder and all kinds of abuse.
13 And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.
Genesis 6:13-14
Hebrews picks up the theme that Noah believed God when he spoke of something Noah had never seen. Noah created a never-before-seen Ark for a never-before-seen flood for a never-before-seen new world. Noah believed and acted on this faith against the cultural norms of the day. Verse 9 in Genesis 6 “says Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.” Again we do not hear about a lifestyle that trusted God and “walked with God.”
Our faith may lead us today to stand against cultural norms as astounding as at Noah’s time. Forgiving enemies is not in vogue. Tithing is always a touchy subject. Affirming being a small, caring church community is contra to our “bigger is better” mentality. Better programs that attract seem like the way forward rather than prayer. Certainly we believe the gifted are the blessed and the hope for the future. Do we chase popularity or faithfulness? Lord, help my heart’s desire be to walk with you today and trust you.
On the Way to Wonder 