LEARNING DAILY

Genesis 6:8-9, But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

Genesis 6:5-6 describes the “wickedness of man was great on the earth; their intent of their thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry [regretted] that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart.” Human depravity was so great that their thoughts, will, and emotions were always evil – that means evil all the time in every thought and in every action. I wonder how evil that must have been. Does God think this same way about people today? God was grieved in His heart over this; He regretted that He had made man. Regret means a feeling of pain, or sadness. God grieved over the outcome of mankind. It is interesting that God grieved over man’s sin when man continued on in their sin, wanting more. Evil, left alone will eventually overtake the entire human race. God would take action.

Only two verses later Noah is chosen – He has “found favor in the eyes of the Lord”. He was righteous, blameless, and walked with God. Very few people written about in the Old Testament are described this way. Nothing is really known about Noah before this time except He was righteous, just, before God. The New King James Version states that Noah was the only “perfect” person living in this generation. Finding favor with God does not mean his life will be perfect, or easy, or even painless.

Words like blameless and righteous indicate that Noah did what was right in God’s eyes and he was not doing what everyone else in this generation was doing. They indicate that Noah was living a moral life, and honored God. Therefore, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord”.  He found grace – the undeserved favor of God! Just like those who accept the salvation God gives through Jesus Christ, today, salvation comes from Him not through one’s works.

Luke 1:6, “And they [Elizabeth and Zechariah] were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” Like Elizabeth and Zechariah, Noah walked blamelessly. This is doing everything one can to be obedient to God. Every Believer should be living by being as obedient to the Lord as possible. Genesis 6:22 states, “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him”. Do not misunderstand, this is not a description of being “absolutely perfect”. Noah was not a sinless, morally perfect man – only Jesus Christ lived this way. Noah was set apart from the rest of his generation because he did good things and did not do bad things. His character, reputation, and what he did made him different.

Do you know God desires all Believers to “walk with Him”! This is not for just a select few. During the shutdown experienced by COVID, my wife and I would take fairly long walks. No gym time, no special classes for exercise were offered. We walked. We walked on the streets, looked at houses and the yards, noticing “stuff” we would normally pass by. It was just us; we shared the different things we saw that the other did not. It was fun.

Walking with God is kind of like that. It is getting to know Him better, hearing His voice as we read/study/meditate on His Written Word. It is pouring out our hearts to Him in prayer or sharing our successes and our failures with Him. It is seeking to please Him by being obedient and letting go of the things that distract our walk with Him because this walk is not one where we bring worldliness and sinful habits.

Just like Noah, we won’t be “absolutely perfect”; but we will be set apart from this evil generation by the power of the cross of Calvary. The lifestyle Believers choose is one where God is glorified in every way possible, regardless of personal loss. It is not difficult to spot those who walk with God. The Fruit of the Spirit is being produced, and the world cannot help but recognize it!