Men, Noah was a man that we must learn from. There are many qualities about Noah that I would like to be said about me. He was faithful, obedient, trusting in God, daring, sacrificial, and successful. These words are attractive to me. I wish them to be said of me after my life is done.
However, there are some stern warnings we need to see from the life of Noah. These warnings should cause us to be concerned for how we finish this race. They should make us flex the muscles of our spiritual walk. Paul wrote, “So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified,” (1 Cor. 9:26-27 ESV).
Final words can speak volumes. The lack of final words can speak even more. The life of Noah was great. We should look and learn from it. We should discover from Noah what faith should look like and what faith can manifest in our lives, but we must consider the end of his life as a stern warning for us today. As you will see, there is a great lack of words regarding the end of his life.
Noah “found favour in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8 ESV). He was described as righteous and blameless among his generation (Gen. 6:9; 7:1 ESV). That amazes me. I often look at the world and my culture today and wonder how I will manage to keep myself unstained from its practices. Noah’s generation was a wicked generation (Gen. 6:5,11). Yet among this generation of people whose hearts were set on evil we find Noah living righteously. Yes, I want to learn from Noah.
Noah obeyed God in the most amazing of ways. God asked him to make a boat, a very large boat. He did this on dry land. God told him the water would come. While Noah built the boat he was a preacher of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:5). Noah devoted his life to this calling of God. He had no mission agency or supporting church. He had no place to turn in his receipts for the materials he needed for the construction of this very large boat. He had nothing but the command of God. “He did all that God commanded him,” (Gen. 6:22 ESV). Now there is an epitaph if there ever was one. What a commentary on Noah’s life. He did everything that God told him to do. It is truly inspiring.
His success should not surprise us. Success seems to be inevitable when we simply do what God says. “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success,” (Joshua 1:8 ESV). When God wanted a very large boat built he did not need a large boat builder. He needed an obedient man.
Our warnings come after we see Noah succeed in what God called him to do. After he had accomplished his task, after he was chosen and rescued from a perverse generation, after he had seen the power and justice of God Noah “drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent,” (Gen. 9:20 ESV). There are many explanations as to what really happened in Noah’s tent, but it is clear that something bad happened. Noah’s sin then brought negative impact to his son and to all the generations to follow.
What could cause such a blameless and righteous man to sin? I can only speculate, but I wonder if isolation had something to do with it. Noah had lived upright among a perverse people. He held his reputation. He was the leader of a family and gave them a great example to follow. Then, in a moment of aloneness, Noah decided to experience some of the culture that he had kept himself from for so long. The results were devastating.
Not much is said of Noah after this. In fact, this incredible story seems to end differently than it began. At the beginning Noah is described as having favour with God, being righteous and blameless. As the curtain is cast on Noah’s life all we read is, “After the flood Noah lived for 350 years,” (Gen. 9:28 ESV). That is all we get. How he lived is, apparently, not worth writing about. How sad.
The warning to me is that isolation is dangerous. Alone I have the ability to derail my life. Unaccounted for, I am capable of the same end as Noah. My worst enemy is within me. Sinful passions and desires lurk within me. This is why I seek to have no unaccounted for time in my life. Solitude is good. Even my solitude, though, must be accounted for. Otherwise I may find myself sitting in the midst of a vineyard that could change my life in a way that I would not want.
Are there any periods in your day or week where you are unaccountable? I know some men who practically live in that mode. Stop! It is dangerous. If that describes you my assumption is that you are already failing. Stop! Find grace (1 John 1:9) and make yourself accountable (Luke 17:3; Gal. 6:1-2; James 5:16).
Let’s do this thing together so that we too may do all that God commands us.
Pressing On,
Pastor Drew
