Noah Built an Ark - Treasures of Faith - Week 3 Day 3

TODAY'S TREASURE

The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

Genesis 6:5–6

Transcript

Noah Built An Ark

Chuck and Sharon Betters

Today’s Treasure

The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

Genesis 6:5–6

The details of Enoch’s life are sketchy, perhaps intentionally so. He was a preacher, husband, and father, whose daily life was characterized by an intense love for God. He was an ordinary man, made extraordinary by the presence of God in his life. Enoch pleased God because he believed God and, as Jude tells us, Enoch’s warnings came true (Jude 14–16). When Enoch’s son Methuselah died at 969 years of age, the rains of the flood that would destroy the whole earth at last began to fall. God’s warning of coming judgment and the actual fulfillment of that judgment in the great flood spanned the lifetime of Methuselah, the oldest man who ever lived (cf. Genesis 5:25–27 with Genesis 7:6, 11).

Enoch was not the only prophet who offered a warning. Noah, a descendant of Enoch’s line, also walked with God, and he, too, offered a warning from God (Genesis 6:9, also see 2 Peter 2).

How things had changed since the creation of the world! In Genesis 1:31, we read: 

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”

But now by the time of Noah:

“The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” Genesis 6:5–6 

God determined to destroy every living thing on the face of the earth, or, rather, almost everything. In the midst of that blighted and sin-sick world, there remained a beacon shining from the darkness. “But Noah,” Enoch’s great-grandson, “found favor [or grace] in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8).

Noah’s daily walk of faith set him apart from his contemporaries. Like his great-grandfather Enoch, Noah obeyed God and enjoyed the intimacy that results from God’s pleasure. As he steadily walked by faith in this corrupt culture, God sent a warning.

Warnings are uncomfortable. They demand our attention and insist we take action. They often arrive quietly, like the faint smell of smoke before a fire blazes out of control. In our family, we experienced this firsthand one New Year’s Day when a bedroom in our home caught fire. Chuck first noticed the smell. Then another person commented. Only when the smoke thickened and flames were visible did the full weight of the emergency hit us. By then, every second mattered.

Noah didn’t smell smoke. He heard a Word. A divine warning about "things not yet seen" (Hebrews 11:7). A flood was coming, and the world would be destroyed. Noah had no reference for such an event—no satellite images, no storm reports, no community response plans. Just God's voice.

And God gave Noah a detailed set of instructions. Build an ark. Build it from cypress wood. Make it large enough to carry animals and food, and your entire family. Seal it with pitch. Work until it’s done.

Noah's obedience required a massive shift in his lifestyle. The ark wasn’t a weekend project. It took decades. All that time, Noah worked on the ark as his neighbors mocked him and his culture descended further into corruption. Imagine how many mornings Noah had to preach to himself:  "God said it. I will obey."

Noah's faith wasn’t abstract. He didn’t say he believed and then live like everyone else. His belief altered every choice, every task, every priority. His hands bled from cutting and shaping cypress wood. His muscles ached from lifting beams into place. His schedule, his money, his social standing—all sacrificed in obedience to God.

And his family watched it all. Hebrews 11:7 says he "built an ark to save his family." He didn’t just preserve them physically. He modeled a life of enduring trust. When the time came, they followed him into the ark.

The cost was great, but the reward was greater. When the rains came, Noah and his family were secure in the safety God provided.

LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT

Noah teaches us that faith is not just about hearing the warning—it’s about responding to it. Is God warning you today about something in your life? Are you pretending not to hear it? Maybe it’s a gentle conviction about a relationship, a pattern of sin, or a call to step out in obedience. Don’t ignore the smoke.

The work God calls us to might look strange to others, and it may not come with instant results. But faith builds anyway. Faith keeps cutting, hauling, sealing, and preparing. And faith invites your family and others around you to experience God's grace with you.

Don’t be discouraged if your ark-building feels unseen or unappreciated. Every act of obedience is a plank laid in the vessel of God’s provision. Keep going. Keep trusting. Let the warning move you into the work.

PRAYER

Lord, thank You for warning me when danger is near. Give me the courage to listen and the strength to respond. Help me to act in obedience, even when I cannot yet see what lies ahead. Use my life to create a place of safety and witness for those I love. Amen.

MORE…

Adapted from Treasures of Faith by Chuck and Sharon Betters with permission from P&R Publishing

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