Survival Of The Obedient

I am not really a fan of the TV show “Survivor”, but I know people who have watched every episode. I am very suspicious of “reality shows” being staged or set up to come off a certain way for the entertainment factor.

My journey in The Word brought me to Noah and the Great Flood this morning. I can only imagine the ridicule and criticism that he took as he was building this huge boat simply out of obedience. I don’t think that it had rained upon the earth up to that point. The water for the earth had come from heavy dew and from waters below the surface of the earth. Noah had been singled out to do this project because he was found to be righteous and in fellowship with God. He walked in fellowship and obedience with God. He followed the Lord’s instructions regarding the huge boat. Check this out….

¹When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous. ² Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice,and take one pair of each of the others. ³ Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood. ⁴ Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”

⁵ So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him.

The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat. ²⁴ And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days. (Genesis 7:1-5,23b-24 NLT)

Noah’s life was nearly 2/3 complete when the big flood came. He was steady and obedient to whatever God called upon him to do. I can’t imagine the magnitude of the boat building project. He didn’t have electric saws and nail guns. This was a long and time-consuming project. Noah had instructions from the Lord and he was steady in spite of the social suicide that this project brought upon him and his family.

I believe the Lord loves my obedience to Him more than He loves my other gifts and talents. Obedience is bringing my will in submission to His will. Obedience is about surrender to His call instead of the self-centered call upon my flesh, along with its desires. I think Noah still wanted what he wanted, but he was submissive and obedient to the Lord above His own wants and desires. He and his family were saved because of his faithful obedience. I needed reminding of how simple obedience is. It’s not always glamorous or flashy, but the Lord loves my obedient spirit to His calling upon my life.

Pressing On!

Dwayne