Genesis 6:9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
Our brains are trained to notice the things that are out of place. For some people, their lives are so chaotic that everything seems out of place. But for the rest of us, (I hope you are included in this), our lives are fairly orderly, so when something is out of place, it catches our attention.
I love the detectives who can walk into a room and find the thing that is out of place. Highlights magazine would have those puzzles that challenged you to spot the things that were different in two pictures, things that were out of place. As I have gotten older, something that happens when death has not, I notice that things seem out of place much more often, and not in a good sense!
One of the keys to understanding the text of Scripture is to look for the things that seem out of place. They are emphasized, but not necessarily explained. Our text is one of three mentions that are out of place.
These chapters are tracing the descendants of Adam down through to Noah. At the end of chapter four we read that people “began to call on the name of the LORD.” This ending to a chapter about Cain’s punishment for killing his brother and a series of marriages and births, seems a little odd. What does their seeking have to do with the rest of the text?
And then in the middle of chapter five we read about Enoch who “faithfully walked with God” and then “was no more.” And this in the middle of a series of so and so was so many years old when they gave birth to so and so, and then lived so many years. How is Enoch’s faithfulness connected?
And then we come to our text for today. Noah’s character is outlined. Here is the connection.
Each of these three points out a contrast to the rest of the people in the account. The other people were not following the LORD. They were just living, or they were being corrupt. There was no drive in them to be faithful, to seek out the LORD, to call on Him.
But these two individuals went against the flow. They sought the LORD even when no one else seemed to be moving in that direction. They did what was right, the very thing Cain was encouraged to do before he killed his brother.
Notice that Noah was not just in right relationship with God, the people also saw and experienced his different kind of life. He was blameless among the people. No fault was found in his dealings with others. Now that is a testimony!
And this ‘do the right thing’ and ‘do the right thing by other people’ is summarized in the phrase “he walked faithfully with God.” These words ring back to Adam and Eve walking in the breeze of the day with God. They walked with God, and Noah did the same.
This is exactly what we are to be doing. Having been placed back in right relationship with God through Jesus, we can now do what is right, do what is right by other people, and walk faithfully with Him.
These two men followed the LORD and began to call on HIs name. We too can call on His name. We have been given access to the Father through Christ. We can walk faithfully with Him. And in the corrupt world in which we walk, this will stand out. People will notice and the LORD will get the glory.
The Arnold Journey 