Just as He Commands

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

JUST AS HE COMMANDS

Heb 11:7 7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

NIV

What can we say about Noah that has not already been said? Knowing the story of Noah and that it took him about a hundred years to build that ark is in the record, but how amazing was that task. We know Noah was about five hundred years old when he had his three sons but we do not know when he actually started to build the ark at the command of God. We know that he was six hundred when it was finished, so it did take a very long time to build. However, the story is about the man Noah himself. The world was corrupt, mankind had become increasingly corrupt, and every evil desire was followed. Interestingly, when Noah was born, his father Lamech prophesied that Noah would comfort them in the labor and painful toil of their hands caused by the ground the LORD had cursed. We take our lesson from three aspects of Noah. First, he found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Second, he was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Third, Noah did everything just as God commanded him. Is it any wonder Noah ended up in the Hall of Faith? Have we found favor in the eyes of the Lord? We have to answer that in the affirmative because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. God is pleased that we accepted his offer for our salvation, and that we are living in his grace by faith in Jesus. However, we also need to understand that because we are in Christ, God does see us as holy and blameless in his sight. Still, there is some requirement in how we walk. We cannot walk in our own footsteps; we must walk in the steps our Lord lays out for us. We must follow Jesus, follow God, walking with him. Then we must ask ourselves if we are blameless among the people, and we are not considering the people of faith we gather with to worship, but the people of this earth, the people who are still corrupt, following their own desires, their own plans for their lives, either rejecting or refusing to accept God. Do they see us as living a blameless and righteous life? What kind of reputation do we have with the people of this world? Are they seeing Jesus in us, even though they are not sure who Jesus is? The third aspect of Noah is another one that we need to consider whether we meet that same faith of Noah. He did everything just as God commanded. Are we doing everything God has commanded us to do? The first thing we need to ask, is whether we are listening enough to hear all his commands? Have we busied ourselves with too many chores, or deeds that we think are Godly, or what Christians are supposed to do, at least according to our ideas? Maybe God has another way for us to travel, another plan, a command for us. Let us live to please him, and simply do what He commands, so that we might be known as someone who does just as God commands. However, we still are going to be an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith, and still living and doing just as He commands.