Noah: A Faith That Pleases God • Genesis 6:5-9, 6:17-22; Genesis 8:20-22
By Becky Brown
So grateful for another opportunity to contribute these scribblings of my soul and to spend time in The Word writing lessons for The Baptist Record family. This first group of six lessons for Summer 2025 is entitled, “Risk Takers: The Adventure of Walking by Faith.” We will look at examples of “faith walking” from events in the lives of Noah, Joshua, Rahab, David, John the Baptizer, and Stephen.
Any “risk” we take in following the Lord melts into complete victory with that first faith step. The moment we say “yes” to the call of the Holy Spirit, risk is swallowed up in a re-definition as willingness to follow. I thank the Lord He called me to follow Him a long time ago. I believe God calls every single “whosoever” on earth to come to Him. We become “whosoever willers” when we answer “yes” and begin that faith walk with Him.
We meet Noah in Genesis 5:30. The ink on the scroll containing the creation story has barely dried. Genesis 5 traces the several consecutive covenant generations from Adam to Seth and on through to Lamech, Noah’s dad. Moses wrote that the generation of Noah was greatly wicked. The thoughts and intentions of their hearts were described as evil continually. God was grieved in His holy heart at the sinful condition of man. God would blot out man, animals, creeping things and birds with a worldwide, global flood. Fish kept swimming.
Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. He was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God with proven integrity. Noah was the husband of one wife, Mrs. Noah, and the father of three sons named Shem, Ham and Japheth. Each of these sons had wives. God called Noah to build an ark to carry the creatures He would call to come to Noah for safety inside the ark. These “two-by-two” units of male and female creatures (humans, animals and birds) would later disembark the ark and re-populate the earth and skies. The eight people listed on the ark’s official passenger manifest were Noah, his three sons and their wives — a total of eight human souls.
God chose Noah as His ark builder in Genesis. In the Book of Hebrews, we get a little more information. Hebrews 11:6 reads, “…without faith, it is impossible to please God for He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Verse 7 continues with special mention of our man Noah. “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Noah “faithed” God. In Hebrews 11, Noah’s faith is described as “reverence” for God. Noah FIRST had a relationship with God. Because of his faith in God, Noah obeyed God and built the ark. This lesson will want you to read the complete (and hopefully very familiar) ark story on your own which includes the entirety of Genesis 6-9. We are emphasizing the response of Noah to the call of God on his life.
Noah’s faith in God was evidenced by Noah’s obedience to the instructions of God. Noah’s faith was also shown in his desire to worship God. In Genesis 7:1, God tells Noah to enter the ark. In Genesis 8:16, after the deluge, God tells Noah to go out of the ark. Noah’s next act was to build an altar to the Lord and place a sacrifice on that altar, leading his entire family in worship of God. Faith. Obedience. Worship.
At the time God called Noah to build the ark, no rain had fallen on the earth. He would not have understood the meaning of a flood. Yet, Noah built the ark. That was his “risk” of faith. With God, there is no risk. We see Noah’s action as a faith step. Hebrews 11 says that God warned Noah of “things not yet seen” and Noah acted on faith. Every other person listed in Hebrews 11 was declared a “FAITH-er” in God.
Jesus was covenant-promised in Genesis 3:15. Through Seth to Noah to Shem to Jesus. Aren’t we grateful Noah built that ark?
Brown leads LittleBrownLight Ministries.
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