"He did everything that God commanded him."

"Noah, however, found favor in the sight of the LORD.  These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God. And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness. God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth. Then God said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.  "Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside. This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within 18 inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.  "Understand that I am bringing a flood -- floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will die. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives. You are also to bring into the ark two of all the living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of everything -- from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from the animals that crawl on the ground according to their kinds -- will come to you so that you can keep them alive. Take with you every kind of food that is eaten; gather it as food for you and for them." And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him." [Gen 6:8-22 HCSB]

Observations:

• What choices were made? 
• Noah chose to walk with God.
• God chose to put an end to every creature. 
• God chose to have Noah build the ark. 
• God chose to give Noah very specific directions about the Ark. 
• God chose to save two of all the living creatures. 
• God chose to have Noah take along every type of food. God did not put a limit on the food!
• God says that he has made the choice to put an end to every living creature.  
• Noah chose to do everything that God commanded Him. 
• What choices could have been made? 
• Noah could have compromised his walk with God. 
• God could have chosen to give Noah less specific instructions. 
• God could choose to give humanity more specific instructions more often. 

Applications:

• Today, when people choose to walk with God and does God use them for salvation purposes? He absolutely does. God saves His children and uses His children to save. He already has saved us from so much. He has already saved us from our sins-- past, present, and future. In my my own life, I have been influenced by many people who have walked with God, many of them in my own family. I will never forget being four years old and going to "Good News Club" with my Grandma D. She talked about how heaven had streets made of gold, and to get to heaven you had to ask Jesus into your heart. I went home that day and pondered that during nap time. Streets made of gold sounded better than any castle I had seen in a Disney movie. I wanted that. I knew I wasn't perfect. I was only four and I could already see that. I knew I needed forgiveness, so I asked Jesus into my heart... not at an alter call, but during nap time. After nap time was over, I was super excited to share with my mom who wrote the date down in my Bible for me so that I wouldn't forget it. To this day, I am thankful to have a Grandma who dedicated her life to walking with God and children's ministry. I am thankful to have parents who walked with God and who discipled me throughout my childhood and adolescence. I am thankful for all the other people who have walked with God and shared those walks with me, continuously helping me grow and saving me from many of the immature choices I would be bound to make doing things on my own. 
• Noah has always been one of my personal heroes. His obedience to God in a time when obedience wasn't easy is inspiring.  
• The other take-away I find in this passage is that God rarely gives humans specific instructions. This is seriously like one in a handful of times in the Bible that God gives a human being such specific instructions to follow (I'm excluding the books of the law in this statement--- which are more for groups of people. I am specifically thinking about God giving instructions to one person specifically about their calling/life). What that tells me is that most of the time, God is content to leave most of the choices in life up to us! He wants us to enjoy freedom. I think in my own Christian walk, as a perfectionist, I can get this belief in my head that there is only one perfect way to do anything... I thank Plato for that... including my life. But, I think God is more expansive and creative than I am. And most of the time, He allows me to have so many choices. In most given situations, I am learning to recognize that there are multiple amazing solutions and/or choices to be made. There are also multiple poor solutions/choices to be made. This has opened up the conversation for me to think about priorities... how are my priorities revealed based on the choices I make? How do I make choices that are not just good, but good AND aligned with my priorities/purpose/mission?   

There is so much more in this passage! I had to just limit myself to my two favorite applications. Any other thoughts, observations, or applications? 

-Jordan