“Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God,” Genesis 6:9.
In my Sunday school class, I am teaching a series about the lessons from Noah. As men on the journey, there are so many valuable lessons that apply on our own personal journey of faith and our struggles as men.
I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 6 where we find the way too familiar story of Noah and the ark and the Flood. As we begin a new season of Lent, I want to explore some of the truths that God reveals about Himself and about our human nature.
Verse 9 says that, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” You know the story. God had told Noah in 6:21 to “take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
It’s intriguing for me to not see any mention at all about any discussion about how much is ENOUGH, a question that man still grapples with don’t we?
Throughout the Bible, the faithful God that created us provides enough for His people every day.
The children of Israel who wandered in the desert were taught how much is ENOUGH. God provided enough manna each day for them. All that they needed was provided. All they had to do was to keep the faith.
The problem was when they lost faith and it became not how much do I need but how much do I want. How much do I need to be “secure”?
They and we still wrestle with the question, ‘what if this faithful God who has proved himself faithful everyday of our lives, somehow quits being faithful?’ And that’s where the question of “enough” comes into play as well as all the “store it up” misdirected applications.
God didn’t even tell Noah how long his journey would last. He didn’t have to. He was in control. God had recognized that Noah “walked faithfully with God.” I have to believe that I would have wondered at some point, is this enough? On this journey, I don’t’ even know how long it will be before we see dry land again or if we will even see dry land again. I would have asked myself did I store up enough. After all, it was God who said, “Store it away”. But for what? And He doesn’t leave us hanging. He reveals the answer.
This is the constant struggle for a Christian man as a provider for the family.
Clearly God knew that it was important to store enough away for the journey. I think He wants us to acknowledge where it came from. That He was the provider and sustainer. He is the one who we can put our trust and faith in. He will continue to provide every need that we truly need.
He is our ENOUGH.
I am intrigued that there is never a mention of Noah “worried” or “anxious about today” or “fearful”. Through God’s grace, as we learn to “walk faithfully with God”, our journey should have far less days filled with worry, anxiousness and fear. God is only faithful and there is ultimate rest in His promises
However, men get misdirected in the pursuit of enough.
Was the end reason to store it away for power? Prestige? Success? Comfort? Making a name for ourselves? I don’t see that. It is for provision for you, but that is not all. It is always other-oriented. Look who else it is intended for… “for them.”
“Take with you every kind of food that is eaten; gather it as food for you and for them.” (vs 21)
I don’t know what that means for you today but I do know we are to have open hearts and minds, not just as we begin this season of Lent, but all the days of our lives. It is worth dwelling on and ultimately responding in the ways God calls us to respond.
Pay special attention to what happens in chapter 7 verse 17. “For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.” The ark was disconnected from everything that it had been secured to before. It was all in God’s hands now. And just as Noah’s journey began, ours does to this new season of Lent. And what we find is that …
God not only provides enough, He has provided the abundant life through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Enjoy the journey!
