-a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.
-the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.
~The word that stands out the most to me is the word "determination or determining upon" As followers of the LORD we most be determined to live for Him in the face of growing opposition. I find that Noah is a fine example of someone who had made a resolution to not be like others of his time.
Genesis 6:5 " The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. V9b "Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God"
~Because Noah found favor in the eyes of Lord, the Lord choose him to build an ark so that a remnant would be saved from the punishment God was going to bring upon the earth.
V17-18 " I am going to bring flood waters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you."
V 22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
~Noticed I underlined the word everything because this shows Noah's resolution (or determination) to follow God although everyone around him was wicked. Can you imagine that? Do you have neighbors that fight in their front yard and nothing but curse words can be heard? Or that grouchy old man who yells at your kids the minute they step even one toe in his yard? Well, that's nothing! Look back at verse 8, it says that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was evil all the time. Noah did not get any breaks. He was surrounded. Talk about "Sin City"- this was "Sin World" and quite frankly God was fed up with it! Everything was going to washed out- literally!
Gen 7 V11-12 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights... V17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.
V 21-23 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
~Only Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives and two of every kind of animal, (7 pairs of the clean animals). Everything else had been washed away. Only those who were in the ark had been saved. Why? It all goes back to Genesis 6:9b "...he walked faithfully with God"
Hebrews 11:7 says "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith."
Noah obeyed God even though everyone around Him was wicked. He had made a resolution to follow God. He was determined to be faithful no matter what! How do you find yourself today?
What will your resolution be this year, the next and for the rest of your life?
May you always be found faithful!
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