"These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God." ~ Genesis 6:9 (ESV)
I have a dear sweet friend who is fond of telling me, "When the Lord speaks in multiples, you'd better pay attention."
Sounds like wisdom to me.
I started one Bible study some time ago and a Torah study just recently. Within hours, my homework for each was focused on the same verses in Genesis.
Two very different sources, one message.
Needless to say, it made me smile and definitely caught my attention.
Noah was considered righteous in his generation.
There are two ways I suppose we could take this. One, Noah was righteous and walking with God. Full stop. Two, Noah was considered righteous relative to others who walked the earth at that time, but placed among the truly righteous, might pale in comparison.
(What does Noah have to do with baseball? I'll get back to that. : ) )
Let's confront one thing up front. When I spoke of this to one of my nearest and dearest (brought up in the church, but not particularly faithful,) his response was, "Noah was a drunk!"
We only have one account of Noah going on a bender as far as I can tell, and it happened after the flood. When thinking about that... frankly, if I'd endured everything he went through, I'm not sure I blame him for a night of debauchery.
He was human. He was imperfect. He was flawed. As are we all.
When God was choosing who would ride out the storm on the boat, He knew the choices Noah would make. And perhaps even more importantly, He knew the choices Ham would make, and still He allowed him the one way ticket to a cleansed earth and a new future.
I actually find that quite comforting. God chose them, even pre-salvation, even knowing who they were and the choices they would make.
Mercy and grace, in spades.
When it comes to drawing some conclusion about what scripture meant when it said Noah was considered righteous in his generation, I tend to lean toward righteous, righteous, despite any flaws. Not to mention, one of my favorite translations (The Scriptures) actually says "Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with Elohim." So, I think I'll go with that.
Notice that second bit, we are told He walked with God. As mere mortals, isn't that the epitome of what we can hope for as we walk the earth?
We find ourselves in interesting times.
At the moment, life is unlike anything in human history. And, while I suppose that's always been true, at the cross-section of pandemic and social media and, and, and, life is a little strange. On top of which, here in the United States, we have several other layers of interesting at play.
Given all of that and whatever is happening in our own lives, who will we choose to be? Will we choose to be righteous in our generation? Will we choose to walk with the Creator of the heavens and the earth?
In the face of so many opportunities to be less than the Father hopes us to be as we endeavor to follow in the footsteps of the Son, what choice will we make?
Will we too be counted righteous in our generation?
I can only speak for myself, but I truly hope so... even in spite of my many mistakes. Mercy and grace.
Just after the convergence of homework assignments, I heard a song ringing from the other room. It was a song I had heard before, but I don't think the lyrics had ever sunk in quite the way they did that day.
The song was composed and performed by a very clever and talented lady by the name of Sister Wynona Carr, released on her album Dragnet for Jesus. The title is, Life is a Ballgame, and the lyrics are as follows...
Life is a ballgame Bein' played each day Life is a ballgame Everybody can play Yes you know, Jesus standing at the home plate He's a-waiting for you there You know, life is a ballgame But you've got to play it fair The first base is temptation You know the second base is sin Third base tribulation If you pass, you can make it in Old man Solomon is the umpire And Satan pitchin' a game He'll do his best to strike you out But keep playin' just the same You know, Daniel's up to bat first You know, he pray three times a day Yes Satan pitched him a fast ball But he hit it anyway Yes you know, Job is up to bat next Satan's struck him in every way But Job hit a home run And he came on in that day Yes you know, prayer is a strong bat To hit at Satan's ball And when you start to swing it You got to give it your all and all Yes you know, the priest gonna be your catcher And on him you can depend Oh Jesus, standing at the home plate And He's waiting for you to come in Yes you know, Moses is on the sidelines Waiting to be called You know, the day he parted the Red Sea He knew Christ, all and all Then John came in the ninth inning And the game was almost done Then God gave John a vision And he knew we'd already won Yes you know life is a ballgame Being played each day You know life is a ballgame Each and everybody can play Yes you know, Jesus is standing at the home plate He's waiting for you there Well you know, life is a ballgame But you've got to play it fair
So, I guess the question is, in the ballgame of life, will we play it fair? Will we be blameless among the people of our time, in the eyes of God, no matter what the world throws at us? Even when things aren't going our way, for whatever reason?
Like Noah, will we "walk with God"? And, will we do it knowing, as revealed to John, that we've already won?
Abba Father, Thank You for having mercy and grace for us, even and especially in our most flawed moments. Thank You for sending Your Son to teach us to walk in Your Will, Your Way, through Your Word. Thank You for helping us, like Noah, to be righteous in our generation and to walk with You, all the days of our lives. I truly cannot imagine anything better. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. All these things we pray in the name of Your Son. Amen.
Oh, and P.S., thanks for helping us walk in the victory that's already been won.
"You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." ~ Psalm 16:11 (NKJV)
"You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence." ~ Acts 2:28 (ESV)
"So you will follow the ways of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous." ~ Proverbs 2:20 (BSB)
May the Good Lord bless you and keep you, friends... always, in all ways. Amen.
Today's bonus song of praise is, of course... ♥
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