The more we read God’s Word, the more God shows who He is and what He is doing. Lately I’ve been in Genesis. Reading the account of the flood this week has given me a new awe and wonder for God. He is so loving and kind that even in the midst of judgment, there is great salvation. The judgment is terrible—all those people—many generations — were living their lives. God saw that the earth was filled with violence and that the thoughts of the human heart were bent toward evil (Genesis 6:5, 11–13). But in the middle of this account, I keep noticing God’s heart bent toward Noah and his family.
Before Noah built a thing, he found favor in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:8). Genesis tells us that “Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). God warned Noah about the flood and told him to build an ark. Notice: the walk comes before the warning. God gave Noah detailed instructions for the ark, including who and what would enter it.
And Genesis 6:22 says, “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”
Noah knew a flood was coming and that the ark was God’s way of carrying his family and the animals through it. But he did not know what it would feel like when the waters rose, how long they would wait inside, or what they would find when they stepped out.
Still, he built.
Building the ark took work, endurance, and persistence. Noah had to keep following God’s instructions day after day. Hebrews 11:7 says he built by faith. Obedience was Noah’s response to the God he believed, loved, and walked with. He did not have to see everything ahead of him to trust the One who did.
““By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7)”
That right there hits.
I often want to know what God is doing.
I often want to understand why or see the reason before I move forward in obedience.
I want to know how long the waiting will last. For the past two days I have waited for the rain to stop because I wanted to go for a walk- every hour or so I would look out the windows and see rain falling- getting antsy in my little ark of a house. I reminded myself that Noah was in the ark for over a year! Are we patiently waiting on the Lord for as long as it takes?
I want to see that the work he has given me will matter. And sometimes I get so focused on doing something for God that I forget the gift of walking with him.
The deepest want of my soul is to walk with Him daily. I want to love and serve my King. I want to know his Word and grow in trust as I spend time with him, so that when he calls me to obey, my response comes from faith rather than anything else!
The day Noah entered the ark, God told Noah to go in with his family. The animals came as God had commanded. And then, in one of the most tender, loving, and powerful lines in the account, “…the LORD shut him in” (Genesis 7:16).
Noah walked with God, built the ark in obedience, and entered it by faith. But God closed the door.
God warned him. God had provided the way through judgment. And God kept Noah and his family safe as the fountains of the deep burst forth and the rain fell. When they could not feel solid ground beneath their feet, when they could not know how much longer they would be inside, their safety rested in the God who had brought them there.
The waters prevailed; God’s judgment poured down over the wickedness of the earth. But “God remembered Noah” (Genesis 8:1). He had not lost sight of him.
Noah and his family were safe and secure in the ark built of gopher wood and covered/sealed in pitch—inside and out (Genesis 6:14). The Hebrew word for pitch is also used elsewhere for a ransom or payment. The image of a covered ark, given by God as a way through judgment, points to the greater rescue He has given us in Christ.
We cannot build our way to safety from the judgment we deserve. We cannot obey every rule enough to cover the cost of our sin or make ourselves righteous before a holy God.
But God has provided a way of rescue.
Jesus Christ lived without sin and died for sinners. On the cross, he bore our sins and the judgment we deserve. He took it all. His blood covers us; it was the price of our redemption. He rose from the dead, and everyone who turns to him and trusts in him receives forgiveness, freedom, and eternal life (Romans 3:23–26; 1 Peter 1:18–19; 3:18).
Salvation rests on God’s work and God’s character. It is his gift, received by faith—not something we can build or earn (Ephesians 2:8–9).
My obedience matters. I want to listen to my King and do what he asks because I love him, but my obedience does not pay for my salvation. Working harder, pleasing others, building the best family, serving the most people, and giving all my money to the poor will not earn me a spot in the ark, and a picture-perfect life won't either. Salvation is a gift given by grace alone.
Do I still wrestle with feeling unworthy of God’s love? Absolutely.
Am I worthy? No. The more I study His Word, the more clearly I see his holiness—and my own sin. That is both uncomfortable and comforting. We have to stop looking for the reason God saved us and simply marvel that He has!
If you wrestle with doubting your salvation because you feel you are not good enough for God, if feeling like you don't deserve God's love makes you question whether you are really saved, I say this in love: you don't yet really understand the gospel. Because deep down, a big part of you still thinks your salvation depends on your works and on your character.
And it doesn't. Not. At. All.
I want to encourage you to preach the gospel to yourself, to believe the words and blood of your Savior Jesus, and embrace the glorious truth that you are not worthy of the love of God, yet you are loved with an everlasting, never-ending love.
God did not have to save Noah. But He is true to His Word (Gen 3:15). Noah found favor (unearned grace) in the eyes of the Lord.
And God did not have to save me. Yet there is Jesus, on the cross, laying down his life for all sinners- His blood speaks louder than the whispered accusations.
You are a sinner. Yes, I am.
You do not deserve God’s love. No, I don’t.
God could never love you; look at all you have done. Jesus died for all of my sins- that is love.
When I doubt, I want to return to God’s Word. I want to remember what Christ has done and trust the faithful character of the God who gave him for me. Noah could trust God inside the ark, even when he could not see the land beneath him. I can trust the Savior God has given me, even when my feelings are unsteady.
I do not have to look at what I have built or ask whether I have obeyed enough to make myself safe. I can look to Jesus. He has done the saving work I could never do.
I am not worthy of his love. And yet, in Christ, I am loved.
That grace makes me want to keep walking with my King— to know Him deeply, to hear His Word, trust his character, and obey what he asks of me. The God who closed the door of the ark has secured my salvation in Christ. I am rescued. I am His. How about you?