All. And No Less.

 

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart." Gen. 6:5, 6

Every imagination. Only evil. Continually.

That's scary.

No, that's really scary.

Our own righteousness is as filthy rags. Nothing good comes but from God, true. But can you imagine everyone around you sunk into the most terrible kind of depravity imaginable? So much so that God looks down at the earth, crawling with sin and fallen humanity, and wishes He'd never created?

I can't fathom it.

And yet, in the middle of all of this, there is one rock. One unmoved stone. One who still trusts, obeys, and honors the Lord.

Noah.

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." vs. 8

The story of the Flood to come was revealed first to Enoch, the prophet. He passed this one to his children, and to their children, and Noah one day had a visitor from Heaven, telling him what he should do to weather the terrible destruction.

Build an ark. This long, this wide, this tall. Put a window here, a door here. Use gopher wood. God was very precise.

And then came the clincher.

Verse 22: "Thus did Noah: according to all that God commanded him, so did he."

All. And no less.

In fact, that was the only way that Noah would survive the terrible destruction coming. He had to do exactly as God said, and nothing besides.

There's a similar destruction coming. The earth will be filled with violence and terrible wickedness. "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Matthew 24:37

And the only way to weather through the destruction approaching us today is the same way Noah did.

"Thus did Noah: according to all that God commanded him, so did he."

All. And no less.

Lord, help me to do all You command. To follow Your words to the letter. And no less.