A Man of Great Faith

The story of Noah is found in Genesis 6. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time. He walked in close fellowship with God. God saw that the earth had become corrupt and filled with violence. God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, man and animal. Build a large boat. I am about to cover the earth with a flood.” So, Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

When Noah and his family and a pair – male & female – of every animal entered the boat, he was around 600 years old. Soon the underground waters erupted from the earth and rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. The flood waters covered the earth for 150 days, Then the boat came to rest on the mountain of Ararat.

What tremendous faith and trust Noah had to believe God. Most scholars believe it took some 50-70 years to build the boat. During that time, Noah and his family received bitter ridicule, made fun of, mocked, tormented, etc. from the evil and sinful people living then. Yet Noah and his family’s faith and trust never failed! He just kept on building the boat.

Our God also wants to establish our faith and trust so He can accomplish His work in and through us. God wants to maximize our faith so we can do the work He has planned for us. Faith building is a necessity for every Christian. I believe God has two primary means of going about this. Scripture tells us what to believe about Him, and tests place us in difficult situations. These situations will stretch us to believe and rely on God, as Noah did, instead of our own understanding. Each time we believe Him, our faith grows.

That wonderful old hymn, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey!” Won’t you trust Him today and allow your faith to grow?

Don Schrag