Does God’s word still matter to people today? Can stories that were written that long ago hold any bearing in our lives today? It seems nearly impossible to believe that anything written over 2,000 years ago can have any impact on our lives today. Let's dive into the life of Noah and see how the truths God spoke to Noah still matter for us today!
God’s word is alive and active. It is powerful and life-changing. It is full of truth and wisdom that is just as applicable today as it was when it was written. My heart aches when I hear people say the Bible is outdated and irrelevant. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The life of Noah serves as a wonderful example of God's faithfulness and man's obedience.
If you aren’t convinced that God’s word still matters to you in your life today, let’s go straight back to one of the oldest accounts in the Bible, the story of Noah, and see if it’s truths stand the test of time. You are going to be shocked at how the living, breathing Word of God can speak into your life today.
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The Story of Noah: 10 Theological Truths
1. We can grieve the heart of God with our sin.
God is a good Father and He loves His children. Just like any good Father, our disobedience and sin grieve the heart of our Heavenly Father. In Noah’s days, the people were so sinful that God’s heart was deeply grieved. God was grieved by sin then and He’s grieved by our sin now. He can’t just ignore it because He is a holy and righteous God.
“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” Genesis 6:5-6
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2. God always provides a way for us to begin again with Him.
God must judge sin but he is also merciful, loving, and full of grace. He will never leave us without a way to come back to Him. God wants a relationship with us and is always willing to go above and beyond to provide a way for that. Even throughout deep sin and a worldwide flood, God provided a way for Noah and his family salvation by shutting them in the ark.
He is willing to do the same for you today. It’s never too late for new beginnings because God will always provide a way.
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark…Then the Lord shut him in.” Genesis 7:11-13, 16b
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3. We will not always understand God and His ways, but we can trust Him.
Noah must have wondered if God’s plan was best because, after all, a worldwide flood seems very harsh. However, God had an eternal plan in mind. He knew the sinful state of the world was self-destructive and loved the world enough to intervene.
His plan ultimately provided a way for you and me to come to salvation. God sees the bigger picture, so we must trust Him even when we don’t understand His ways.
In Isaiah 55:8-9 we are reminded that God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
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4. We can obey God even if the world thinks we are crazy.
Speaking of things that are hard to understand, Noah must have faced lots of opposition. People must have been unkind and laughed as he built a massive ark when it had never rained like God told Noah that it would. Yet, Noah obeyed and held fast to what he knew was right, and God rewarded his obedience.
Sometimes obeying God means believing and doing things that the world won’t understand, but we know that God honors our obedience to him.
“And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.” Genesis 7:5,7
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5. All things are possible with God.
As Christians, we believe that the Bible is 100 percent true, and that means that we believe in a flood that covered the whole earth. We believe in a God that warned, instructed, and protected Noah and his family and loved creation enough to send animals into the ark to protect them.
God is able to do far above what we know, expect, and even understand. That was true of Him then and it’s still true of Him today. He did it in Noah’s situation and He can do it in yours.
As if there weren’t proof enough, Ephesians 3:20-21 reminds us of that truth. It says that He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”
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6. God’s timing is different than ours.
Noah had no idea how long he would be in the ark. Scholars say that Noah and his family were on the ark for nearly a year. Can you imagine a year shut up inside a huge floating boat with your family and a massive number of animals?
We may not always know God’s timetable or the layout of his plans, but we do know that His timing is good. Again, He has the eternal perspective in mind. We may long for Him to operate on our timetable, but we know that His timing isn’t the same as ours and His plan is best.
Acts 1:7 reminds us of this. “He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”
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7. God remembers us in our distress.
God never leaves us or forsakes us. Sometimes we may not feel Him as near as at other times, but He is with us. He remembers us and sees us. He is with us in the hardest times.
He remembered Noah and his family in the ark. In the hot, smelly, dirty, stormy place of the ark, He was there, and He will be with us in the hard places of our lives as well.
“But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.” Genesis 8:1
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8. God is a promise keeper.
God is a promise keeper. All of His words are true. Not one of His promises can be broken. He is good to His word and His covenants are eternal. He is found faithful. Always.
He kept His promise to Noah and He will keep His promises to you and me.
“And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come.” Genesis 9:12
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9. There is always a reason to give thanks.
The first thing that Noah did when the door of the ark was opened was to build an altar and give thanks. His family had just endured a long, taxing year, yet they immediately thanked God. They could have grumbled and complained about all that they had gone through, but instead, they chose to give thanks and God blessed them for it.
Life will not always be easy. We may endure lengthy and difficult seasons, but just like Noah and his family, we can always find a reason to give thanks.
“Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and… Then God blessed Noah and his sons…” Genesis 8:20-21, 9:1a
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10. God loves us and has a plan for us that is for our eternal good.
God is not a God of chance or circumstance. He has been working out a plan from the beginning of time to give hope and redemption to His children. Nothing is accidental. Foundations were laid with Noah that would lead to the covenant we make with Jesus and the covenant that God makes with us at salvation. Without Noah’s story, our story wouldn’t be possible.
You and I have a purpose and a plan. God loves us enough that He has been orchestrating that plan since before we were even born. He’s been making a way for our eternal salvation even from as far back as the days of Noah.
Genesis 9:9 shows us that God’s covenant reaches all the way to us today. “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you.”
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"God’s word is still alive and active."
It is obvious to see that God’s word matters in our lives today. The lessons and that covenant from the account were meant to apply to us. They just as relevant today as they were to Noah. We can take those truths and hold them close, trust in them, and apply them in our life right now because God’s word is still alive and active.
Bobbie Schae is the first to admit that she’s a little bit of a hot mess who is just doing her best to honor Him in the craziness of life. She hopes that by sharing her efforts to do so, she can shake a little salt and shine a little light and encourage you to do the same.
Bobbie Schae is the founder of Build A Sister Up where she is editor of the Build A Sister Up Collective and Cofounder of That Upcycled Life where she hosts the You Tube show TUL UNCUT. She is also a blogger, community builder, and encourager at www.bobbieschae.com
She would love for you to stop by and say hello on social media at www.facebook.com/bobbieschae, on twitter @bobbie_schae and on Instagram @Bobbieschae.
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This article is part of our People from the Bible Series featuring the most well-known historical names and figures from Scripture. We have compiled these articles to help you study those whom God chose to set before us as examples in His Word. May their lives and walks with God strengthen your faith and encourage your soul.
Who was Melchizedek and Why was He so Important?
Jael in the Bible - 5 Powerful Lessons from Her Story
4 Things You May Not Know About Abraham in the Bible
5 Things to Know About Luke from the Bible
20 Facts You May Not Know About Moses from the Bible
The Bible Story of Queen Esther
The Life of Ruth - 5 Essential Faith Lessons
6 Things You Didn’t Know About Paul from the Bible
John the Baptist: 6 Powerful Truths from His Life
3 Things You Didn’t Know About Mary (Mother of Jesus)
The Bible Story of Joseph
Who was Peter in the Bible & Why Was He So Important?
The Limits of Satan in this World
Story of Noah: 10 Theological Truths
Who Were the 12 Disciples of Jesus?
The Bible Story of Elijah
The Bible Story of Job
Who Was Noah and What Was His Story?
According to Christianity.com, "Noah is first mentioned in the Bible when his father Lamech predicted the upcoming destruction of the earth and Noah’s role in restoring mankind: “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.” (Genesis 5:29)."
Noah was a righteous man who lived on the Earth during a wicked time. People had depraved themselves so much that God decided to wipe the slate clean and start over, save for Noah and his family.
God sent Noah specific instructions on how to create a large boat to usher his family and all the species of animals to safety. It took Noah more than a century to complete the project of the scale that God had asked him to. Once he completed the project, God led species of all types to the ark, numbers depending on whether they were "clean" or "unclean" animals.
Once all passengers were loaded onto the boat, God flooded the Earth for 40 days and 40 nights. Noah and his family were actually on the boat for far longer (about 150 days), as it took the water a decent amount of time to recede.
At last, as the waters receded, Noah sent out a dove and raven to judge whether they could land the boat on dry land. When dry land appeared, they sacrificed to God when they disembarked and God set a rainbow in the sky to indicate he would never again flood the earth.
Originally published Friday, 15 June 2018.
