Yesterday we saw how Mary undoubtedly had to deal with false accusations and gossip. But Mary certainly wasn’t the only person in the Bible to have to contend with negativity. I want to take a look at a few other people and see how they handled adversity.
In Genesis 6:9 we read: “This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God” (NLT).
Things were so bad that the Bible tells us: “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and He saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry He had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke His heart” (Genesis 6:5-6).
“It broke His heart.” God, who created everything and made man “in His own image” (Genesis 1:27a), grieved over how humans were behaving. So He told Noah, “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. But I will confirm My covenant with you. Build a large boat from cypress wood…” (Genesis 6:17, 18a, 14a).
Bear in mind that most scholars agree that, at this time, it had never rained: “The Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth… But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground” (Genesis 2:5b, 6, NASB).
So here’s Noah, who scholars also agree lived around 500 miles from the nearest significant body of water, constructing a seaworthy vessel four and a half stories tall, the length of one and a half football fields and with the load capacity of about 522 railroad cars. No doubt the neighbors were thrilled and cheering him on, right? I don't think so.
What was Noah’s response? He “did everything exactly as God had commanded him” (Genesis 6:22 and 7:5, NLT).
And this was no overnight accomplishment. Of course, prior to the flood, humans lived much longer lifetimes: “By the time Noah was 500 years old, he was the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (Genesis 5:32). But even bearing that in mind, it likely took more than a century for Noah to complete the construction of the ark (boat).
The Bible doesn’t tell us, but picture for yourself: if you lived nowhere around water and had never seen rain, how goofy would you look or feel hammering away every day building a giant boat on dry land? What would the people around you say? No doubt you and your boat would be on every news broadcast, YouTube, etc. You’d be labeled a nut.
Would that deter you from what God had called you to do? The critics didn’t stop Noah.
Don’t let them stop you. More on Noah tomorrow.
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