A few years ago, I travelled to Zimbabwe. That’s south of the equator, and on the eastern side of Africa. It’s beautiful! While there I met a scientist, who volunteered to show me proof of Noah’s flood. We jumped in his jeep and headed out across the savannah. He stopped in front of a mound of dirt. It was about ten-feet-tall, covered with a healthy crop of grass, and a couple of old trees. He explained that the mound was an ancient, and long-extinct, termite mound. He went on, “scientists have found thousands of these across the African continent. All of them became extinct at the same time. The only explanation is a world-wide flood! Noah’s flood!”
Interesting, huh! Well...
Noah is the third entry in the Hall of Faith. It says, “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark.” (Hebrews 11:7, ESV)
Noah was warned by God because “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually... So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” (Genesis 6:5-7, ESV)
But the next verse is the best. “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:8, ESV) It doesn’t say that Noah was perfect. It says he found favor. That can be translated, “Noah found grace!”
Noah lived in wicked times. (Maybe something like the time in which we are living.) He wasn’t perfect, but God demonstrated His grace to Noah. Beautiful!
Somewhere in here, God takes Noah aside and whispers in his ear. “Hey, I’m going to flood this place. You should build a boat... here are the blueprints!”
And Noah went to work! He built a Titanic-sized wooden vessel that was equipped to carry the San Diego Zoo! Four-hundred-fifty-feet-long... that’s a football field and a half!
Now, I have an electric table saw. An electric miter-saw. An electric drill press. And a pneumatic nail gun. Noah didn’t. But Noah did what God told him to do! He worked!
Because of the grace that God demonstrated, Noah worked, and he was rewarded by becoming “an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7, ESV)
God credited His own righteousness to Noah’s account, because of grace. And because of grace, Noah served God obediently. Noah’s service made it possible for others to be saved by that same sufficient grace.
Can you hear God whispering? He’s saying the same thing He said to Noah. “Hey, I’m coming. You should get busy ... here are the blueprints!”