Student Devotional Week 5: The Flood

Key Verse: Hebrews 11:7 (New International Version)

"By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith."

Noah was a righteous man living in a time when the entire world was evil, not only their actions but their very thoughts were evil. Noah was an old man when the Lord came to him to build the Ark, 500 years old to be exact and it took Noah 120 years to finish the Ark. Think about all of the ridicule that Noah must have bore all of those years building an Ark the size of a football field in the middle of all of the evil and wickedness going on around him. It would have been easy for Noah to say I can't do it, it is too hard and I am too old. Excuses don't get a whole lot accomplished, and Noah was faithful to build the Ark and to take his entire family and the animals with him on the Ark. The water came and wiped out every living creature on the earth at the time and God basically started over with Noah and his family and of course the creatures he had collected. God made a covenant or promise to never flood the earth again and sealed it with a sign, the rainbow, a visual reminder of God's promise to us. Maybe nothing a major as what happened to Noah has ever happened to you, but you may feel persecuted at school for your beliefs and people laugh at you for believing in God. Not only do we have a great example in Noah of perseverance through difficult times, but we have a savior that was persecuted and tested just like Noah and was found faithful. How about you, are you faithful to do as God has commanded you even in the midst of everyone else doing the wrong thing? The Hollywood version of the Flood set to modern times is "Evan Almighty." It is a good example of how evil and corruption exist in the world today, not just politics, but look around and you will see evil just about everywhere you look, but there are those Evans that no matter how hard they may try to run from what God is calling them to do, they can't deny God's call on their life to make a difference in the world. I pray you listen to God's call on your life to take a stand for what is right and just despite what others may say or do to you!