This week we’ve been looking at the call of Noah in Genesis 6 and 7.  Today we’ll look at these passages and see what they can tell us about our lives today:

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.
9 These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for 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.

A couple of things that pop out to me today about life when looking at this passage.  First, notice how evil things had gotten.  We were just a few generations away from Cain and Able and now it has gotten to the point that people have totally turned their hearts against God, only seeking to do evil, at all times.  See how sin has spiraled?  That is what it does.

Notice the effect of sin upon all creation.  We see here that all suffer because of the spiraling sin going on here.  We are tempted to believe that sin affects only me.  It is a private, individual thing. That simply is not true. My sin, my actions, they affect my family, my friends, my church, every relationship that I’m a part of. Part of the reality that this story calls us to confront is what exactly sin does, not just to me, but to everyone I’m around.

How does my sin affect others?

But there is also some good news here.  We see here that Noah was righteous.  In the midst of evil and sin and brokenness, Noah was faithful.  It may seem hard today, but we can do the right thing, through God’s grace. We can.  Noah was faithful and God noticed.  In the same way that He sees our faithfulness.  Today, don’t give up.  Be faithful. God worked through Noah, because he was faithful.  He will do the same for me and you today. He will do the same through me and you today.

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