… Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time,
and he walked faithfully with God.
Genesis 6:9b
Noah is introduced to us in Genesis 6:9 for the first time. In just a few words, much is added to his spiritual resume. Noah is righteous and blameless. He does right things, He is a man of virtue who makes good choices. He is guiltless and without fault.
The phrase “among the people of his time” is perhaps added to make his character all the more remarkable. He lived among a wicked and perverse generation. Verse 11 describes his culture as “corrupt in God’s sight” and “full of violence.” His choice to go against the culture is akin to “swimming upstream.” He stood out. His righteous/blameless character was a sharp contrast to the corruption and violence of the world he lived in.
You and I are declared righteous and found blameless when we place our faith in Christ. We are justified by grace. And, like Noah, we too can live differently and live counter to the culture. Paul said that we “shine … like stars in the sky.” (Philippians 2:15).
The darker the world becomes, the greater our opportunity to shine for Jesus!
The phrase that stands out most for me today is:
He walked faithfully with God.
Noah’s choice to walk with God (rather than walk with the world around him) is what made him righteous and blameless. “You are what you run with,” my mama used to say. One of our teaching pastors recently said, “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”
Righteousness wasn’t the prerequisite but the result of walking with God.
I’ve read this passage many, many times since I became a student of the WORD as a young adult, but today (as there always is) I find fresh manna at God’s table!
Hidden here in Genesis 6:9, an Old Testament verse, is a New Testament truth. It’s the gospel. The good news. Our identity with Him brings change. But we must choose to go Him. We get what we are looking for – what we truly desire. We place ourselves in His presence, abide in His Word, we come to Him faithfully.
Faithfully.
That one little adverb packs a lot of punch. Noah’s walk with God wasn’t weekly – he didn’t have a Tuesday morning or Friday afternoon outing with God. His walk was not monthly or seasonal. Faithfully suggests a continual walk.
The Hebrew word for walk here is hālak. It carries the meaning, “to walk as a lifestyle.”
Some translations just say walk, but my NIV adds faithfully, perhaps trying to convey the rhythm and consistency denoted by hālak.
Do you see the challenge here? Are you willing to embrace it?
Are you taking an occasional stroll with God? Is your time with him a weekly (or monthly) 15-minute outing?
Are you ready to commit to walking faithfully? If faithfully is your intention, these adverbs might help shore up what that looks like:
- Intentionally
- Sacrificially
- Purposefully
- Deliberately
- Preferentially
Choosing to walk faithfully will not bring a reward of an extra 30 minutes to your day. You are still limited to 24 hours. Where does the time come from? How will it happen?
More than giving God 10, 20 or 30 minutes a day, perhaps faithfully means bringing Him into all of it. Every single minute. A conscious awareness of His presence will being to transform all the nitty gritty daily actions and decisions.
Walking faithfully make be exactly what Jesus was inviting us into when He said, “abide in me.” (John 15)
Lord, show me the next best step to walk faithfully with you today.
In this week’s teaching video, our study in the book of Esther has arrived at a crisis: God’s people are facing annihilation. After asking her to keep her Jewish heritage a secret, now Mordecai calls on her to plead for her people.
Esther agrees and calls for three days of prayer and fasting to prepare. Her example challenges us to engage in prayer, as well. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, there’s a prayer for that!
We invite you to watch now as Laura reminds us that whatever situation we find ourselves in, there’s a prayer for that! If you would be interested in joining our Bible study in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, or online, please reach out to us via email for more information.
