Living Against the Grain

Noah lived in a wicked time. Every imagination of the people was evil continually. Every thought of the people included plotting how to do more evil. In Genesis 6 God sighed that He had made mankind.

In this dark pagan environment one man stood in contrast. We learn three things about Noah. He found favor with God. I find that interesting in a time when everyone lived so wickedly God decided to destroy the whole earth Noah found favor, or you can also translate that word grace, with God. The question begs to be asked how? How did he find favor with God? God revealed Himself to Noah and by grace Noah found favor with God the same way you and I do.

We also learn that Noah was a righteous man. The word means complete or without fault. Do you believe Noah really had no faults? Do you believe he never sinned? [Rom 3:23] “We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” According to that verse Noah sinned just like the rest of us do. How could he be declared righteous? Again it goes back to grace and faith. He believed God and experienced grace that led to him being declared righteous. He did not earn righteousness through good works any more than you and I do. Through faith and grace God gave Noah what he could not earn.

We also discover that Noah walked with God. I cannot tell you how deeply this impresses me. In a time when everyone else rejected God and pursued wickedness Noah stayed in communion with God. Day in and day out though surrounded by wickedness Noah stayed close to God.

The more Noah walked with God the more He found strength to resist temptation and choose the better path. It could not have been easy. It is never easy to stand alone. After getting saved I found myself out with three of my best friends one Friday night. We were all under age but the driver knew a place where we could buy alcohol. We all walked into that store and the three others bought beer and wine coolers. I bought a Pepsi and a Snickers. Why? I walked with God and loved Him. Pleasing Him meant more to me than pleasing my friends.

Noah lived against the morale grain of his times. While the whole society lived wickedly Noah swam upstream of immorality to honor God. I cannot imagine the courage this must have took. Like I said earlier, it is never easy to stand alone. Noah kept walking with God and kept living against the grain of his times. This must have caused some friction with people. When you choose to live your life differently than the cultural norm it causes friction. Culture wants us to conform but when you walk with God you have the strength not only to stand but also to march to the beat of a different drummer.

When society says sex before marriage is not only okay but normal, God says sex outside of marriage is sin. When culture encourages couples to live together before marriage God does not lower His standards. When this pagan age tries to redefine marriage as between two men or two women God’s law does not change.

Do you walk with God? Do you walk so closely with Him that you live against the morale grain of the masses? Does your life cause friction among the condemned and compromisers? We are not to conform to this culture but to continually be transformed by the renewing of our minds. [Ro 12:2] Do you as a parent have the guts to not back down from your children’s incessant demands to go, buy, watch, or listen to something because everyone else is? We need more Noahs who cannot be bought, promoted, intimidated, influenced, or silenced into cultural conformity. We need men, women, and students who walk with God and live against the grain of culture.

I am not saying living such a life is easy but I do believe living that way has impact. Noah is a hero in my book. I admire his stand and walk with God in such a dark, pagan, and wicked society. I have not even talked about the task of building the ark that took him well over a century to complete. God called and Noah continued to live against the grain of his times by obeying. In the end Noah and his family were spared while everyone else on the planet drowned in the flood.

Lord I plead with you to teach us to walk with you and commune with you at such a deep level we are not afraid to live against the grain of our times. I ask you for faith to obey and to stand firm when many choose the easy route and compromise their convictions. Please make us more like Noah. In Jesus name, amen.