The Life of Noah

Theme Verse: By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (NKJV)

Noah was the tenth and last pre-flood patriarch. His father was Lamech, and his mother is not mentioned in the Bible. Noah's name means “Rest” (Brand, 2015), and he was also the father of Shem, Japheth, and Ham. One can find the story of his life in the book of Genesis, chapters 5-9. Sadly, during Noah's time, people turned away from God and were doing lots of immoral things. However, there was one man who God was pleased with, and that man was Noah. God tells Noah to build an ark because he wants to destroy humankind. He gives Noah specific instructions on how to make the ark. God tells Noah that the ark must be five hundred and ten feet long, eighty-five feet wide, and fifty-one feet high and comfortably house thousands of animals. (Genesis 6:14-16)

After Noah completed the ark, he and his family went inside it with the animals. Once they were in it, God flooded the whole earth for forty days and nights. God orders Noah to not let anyone out of the ark. After one hundred-fifty days, the water from the flood subsided, and the ark rested on Mount Ararat. Even though the flood stopped, Noah and his family still had to wait a while before they could get off the ark because of all the water that was left. Eventually, Noah and his family left the ark, and God made a covenant with Noah and promises that He will never flood the earth again.

One of the lessons we can learn from the story of Noah is patience. Noah and his family had to wait a long time before they could get off the ark. Through the flood, Noah's family had to have patience, even after the flood was subsided. Another lesson that can be learned is one should always listen to God. Obedience is essential, for example, if Noah had decided to disobey God and had not built the ark, he and his family would have been dead. Noah also had to have a lot of trust in God to make that ark, especially when he started building it on dry ground. In fact the author of Hebrews talks about how Noah had faith to build an ark. (Hebrews 11:7) The whole chapter talks about faith and gives other examples of faith from the Old Testament as well.

In conclusion, the story of Noah is one of the more popular stories written in the Bible. It shows how much of a man of God Noah was, and while he was not perfect, he still chose to trust in God and is a man who we can learn from. Noah's life also shows God's grace and how God could have destroyed mankind but decided to use Noah to show grace to humanity instead.