As mentioned in my Monday/Tuesday blog, the Life Groups in my church are working through Genesis. In chapter 7, at first glance, our loving God looked overly aggressive and out of character. He judged the world by producing a flood that wiped out all of mankind except Noah, his wife, his three sons, and his sons’ wives. Uh, looks like to me, God over reacted.
Did He really? If you look back at Genesis 6, it reveals the behavior of the inhabitants in the pre-deluge era. Genesis 6:2 says any man who wanted a sexy woman for his own, simply took her. If a man saw a woman who was beautiful, he “married any of them (he) chose.” He would literally capture her to fulfill lust. Today, we call that rape or at least outlandish sexual abuse. In Genesis 6:11, it states, “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for humanity had corrupted its way upon the earth.” Man had become totally depraved and vicious toward one another. “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” (Genesis 6:5). Listen to the last part of the verse again, “Every inclination of the thoughts of the human being was only evil all the time.” Each of these inhabitants deserved to be imprisoned. Never forget, God has given man a will to choose. He will not force Himself on a human being. These folks chose sin to the point that not one of them could have repented. They had become that hard.
That is, except Noah. Before God chose to judge mankind by a flood, 2 Chronicles 16:9 states “the eyes of the Lord roam(ed) throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” In His search throughout the world, He found one guy whose heart was obedient, Noah who “was a righteous man and blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” He was righteous (right living) and blameless (whole or full of integrity). He shined his light to others (“blameless among the people of his time”). This one guy, one single light, saved the globe!
One of the things that I love is Christmas Eve service when the lighting of the candles occurs. Without electrical light, worship centers are pitch black inside. One single little lit candle can be noticed by every attendee. It may be feint but the whole room is no longer pitch black…one single light! God saved this world because of one light and it shined bright…the life of Noah.
We can’t give any excuses of how difficult it is to live in this crazy world. Like you, I look at newscasts, live shots of seemingly deranged people, panels of “experts” who are vicious one to another, folks being violent towards on our streets, lying is the norm, truth is spoken seldom, corruption apparently unbridled, sexual sin grossly exposed…Our world is rapidly moving towards the behavior of Genesis 6. Yet, one man, Noah, stood up and was counted as a righteous in a vicious world; a holy man whose light shined on the people around him. Can you imagine the ridicule he took while building an ark…450ft X 75ft X 45ft with three floors and a deck then gathered food for the animals? It had to take a long, long time to construct, prepare logistically, and have food management organized. Amazingly, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22). One single light setting next to deep darkness impacted his God and future mankind.
How about you? What would God say regarding the brightness of your life? What do the people who rub up against you say especially your wife and kids? “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16). How bright does your light shine? One single light!
Barnabas Man 