The relationship between Noah and God astounds us. God reveals His heart to Noah. He relays his disappointment with man and also, His plan to destroy all flesh, due to their corruption and violence. But He loves Noah. In His plan to destroy all flesh, He instructed Noah as to his part in the plan, made a covenant with him, and Noah followed through.
Noah’s Part
Noah had a part to play in this relationship. God told Noah to build an ark. Then He gave him detailed instructions. Make it of gopherwood, make it with rooms, cover it inside and out with pitch. He told him how long to make it, to add a window, and to make it with three decks.
A Covenant
“But I will establish My covenant with you,” God said. It is the first covenant God made with man. The ark is for Noah and his family. It is also for the animals, male and female to keep them alive. They will come to you, God told him. You must take for yourselves and the animals, enough of all food that is eaten. God would do His part if Noah did his.
Followed Through
Noah did as God commanded him. He followed through on his part. There is all kinds of speculation on what it was like for Noah to obey God in such an evil time. In Matthew 24:37 Jesus referred to the days of Noah, when describing His return to the earth. Only God knows the hour. There will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, a lack of knowledge of what was coming until the flood came and took them away.
I pray that like Noah, we will walk with God, learn His heart, and enjoy the new covenant given to us. The covenant where God places His instructions deep within us, and writes them on our hearts; where He will be our God and we will be His people. For in His plan to destroy all flesh, He instructed Noah as to his part in the plan, made a covenant with him, and Noah followed through.