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Contemplations on Noah's life
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A- "Noah was just a man, perfect in his generations" (Genesis 6:9)
I used to find execuses for any sin I commit before the eyes of God. The best execuse is "Everybody does the same; I am not going to be an exception". I forgot what the apostle Paul said "Therefore you are inexusable, O man" (Romans 2:1). God will never ask me what others were doing; He is going to ask me "What did you do?!". God will show me Lot as an example who lived as a righteous man even in Sodom and Gomorrah. Even though the boat is sailing in the sea, it never sinks because the water is outside. Whenever the boat allows the water to get in, it will sink. The same happens with me: I live in the sea of the world and the water is outside; whenever I allow the world to enter inside me I shall sink also.

B- "Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did" (Genesis 6:22)
Noah was a man of action: God commanded, Noah did! That is it. Once he knew the plan of God for his life, he obeyed. He never argued and asked questions. He never said that people are going to mock me if I build an ark in the desert. He did not say a single word. It happens alot that I protest against the wisdom of God. It happens that I do not allow God to put any plans for my life. The main reason is "vanity" because I think that I know about myself more than God does. I say every day in the Lord's prayer "Your will be done"; but actually I mean "Your will be done" if it does not contradict with my own will. Otherwise, "my will be done" and, please God, keep "Your will" for someone else. Note that Noah was not professional in ships' construction but he obeyed to God's instructions. Noah's ark sailed in the flood because Noah built it according to God's wisdom; meanwhile Titanic, the giant ship built according to modern science, sank at the first collision. If we put women into consideration, there were only eight people working in the ark's construction. Building the ark was a monumental undertaking in many ways. For example: the huge size of the ark which was calculated to had the capacity of 500 freight cars, the amount of trees to be cut and transported to the place where the ark was built, the supplies that Noah took should be enough to last until the first harvest after the flood, etc.

C- "Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on earth" (Genesis 7:6)
The age was never an obstacle to do the will of God. Kids, youth, mature, and old men are asked to follow God's laws. Here, we have a 600-years old man who is building a huge ark. Note that his sons were not that young. They were almost 500-years old. So, we have a group of eight old people who were doing the will of God because God told them to do so. So many people take their age as an execuse to not fast, for example. Believe me, every time I see uncle Abdel Malak in the church I feel that I am nothing in front of him. Another contemplation in this point is the team work. To build a huge ark like that using only 8 people means that the team work was very well organized. May be they rented labor hands to help them for money. The most important thing is that they, finally, built the ark. Can I work within a team without any problem?!

D- "they and every beast after its kind, all catle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort" (Genesis 7:14)
Can you believe that all of these animals lived together for about eight months in the same place?! There were carnivorous and herbivorous animals in the ark who lived for about eight months together. The ark of Noah is our church which contains men of every kind: some are carnivorous, others are herbivorous. I want to say that we are completely different. But we are asked to live together in peace in the church, the new Noah's ark. This will happen only if we "love one another" (John 15:12) as Jesus Christ commanded us. Please, let us refer to (1 Coronthians 13) to know what kind of love the apostle Paul is talking about.

E- "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar" (Genesis 8:20)
It was the first thing mentioned by the Holy Bible that Noah did after the flood. He never thought to build a house for his family. He never thought to cultivate the land to find something to eat. He never thought to explore the land and see where he could live. The first thing he did was a thanksgiving prayer. Luke told us about ten men who were lepers. All of them were cleansed by Jesus Christ; but only one came back to give glory to God. How many time did I gave thanks to the Lord?!

F- "So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died" (Genesis 9:29)
Although he lived so many years, Noah died. One who reads chapter 5 in Genesis will find just names who died. God wants to tell us that this is the end of anyone. We may live long; may be not! Always, the result is the same. We will die. Noah lived 950 years and died finally and followed his ancestors. Am I ready for that day?! Frankly, I do not know. Please, ask yourself: Shall I go to the paradise when I die?! We ask God to judge us according to His mercy and not according to our sins. But we forget that "God is a just judge" (Psalm 7:11) and we remember only His mercy. One of the fathers said: People who will go to hell because of God's mercy are much more than those who will go because of His justice. That is because we live in our sins believing that "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering" (Exodus 34:6). But we forget what was said by the apostle Paul: "Do you despire the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4). God says to our souls every day: "I gave her time to repent ... and she did not repent" (Revelation 2:21) and every day in our life is a new chance to repent and "he who has an ear, let him hear" (Revelation 2:29).

I have alot of contemplations on Noah's life but I do not want to make the article too long. But, briefly:
+ There is a contemplation on the bad effect of the spiritual drinks in (Genesis 9:21).
+ Another contemplation on bad sons who mock their fathers and God's punishment in (Genesis 9:21, 25).

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