Noah’s Obedience and Worship
by Jilly Lyon-Taylor
Re-reading the account of the flood in Genesis chapters 6 to 9 recently, I was impacted afresh by the character of Noah and his complete obedience to every instruction that God gave him. The dimensions of the ark were to be very precise, in order to accommodate all the creatures that God wanted to save, and to store enough food to sustain them all, plus Noah and his family, for the duration of the flood. If Noah hadn’t been obedient to every detail given to him, the ark might not have been tall enough for the giraffe, or wide enough for the elephant, and these beautiful creatures could have been lost for ever!
The instructions God gave to Noah would have seemed ridiculous to many – to build a huge boat on dry land and to expect that pairs of every single kind of animal and bird would come to him and enter the ark. Noah wasn’t told to go and set traps for them, or to start rounding them up, because the creatures would just come to him! Noah trusted God and knew that whatever He said would happen, so he did everything just as God commanded him. The reason for his complete trust was that he ‘walked with God’ (Genesis 6:9) and knew Him. It’s difficult to trust someone we don’t know.
When the flood had finally receded, and Noah and his family were able to come out of the ark on to dry land again, the first thing that Noah did was to worship God by building an altar and sacrificing some of the extra animals and birds that God had instructed him to keep for that purpose. For some of us, our first thought might have been to start building a house, or digging a plot of land, or having a rest after feeding all those animals and birds for so long, but Noah’s priority was worship to the Lord.
Our worship is pleasing to God. This doesn’t just mean the formal worship times we have with others or on our own, but it’s also the sacrifice of our lives which pleases Him (Romans 12:1) – doing what He wants and not what we want, putting Him first, changing our attitudes to be in line with His. Submitting to Him is worship and shows our love for Him. Jesus said: “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). Noah’s obedience was complete. What about us?
Prayer: Lord, I want to walk with You as Noah did, to know You better and to trust You more. I also want to lay down my life as a sacrifice of worship to You. Please help me to do this. Amen.
Jilly Lyon-Taylor is part of the Leadership Team at Ellel Pierrepont. She worked in publishing and then with children in Hong Kong before concentrating on being a full-time mother and serving in the local church. Her desire to see people healed led her to the Luke Nine Eleven Training Scheme(NETS) at Pierrepont, and now she teaches and ministers there.
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