Start As You Mean To Go On

Noah did everything just as God commanded him. (Genesis 6:22)

The story of Noah is one of the most familiar stories in the Old Testament. The older generation were brought up hearing it in Sunday school, in school and sometimes at home. Familiarity with stories such as these can cause us to read over them with haste, not taking time to think as we read, not appreciating what actually happened.

Noah lived many hundreds of miles from any large body of water. He would not have known what it was to stand at the ocean’s shore, viewing water stretching as far as the eye could see. Did he even know that oceans existed? Yet, when God spoke to him, asking him to build an ark which, in today’s terms would be seven stories high and one and a half football fields in length, we read that:

"Noah did all that the Lord commanded him." (Genesis 7:5)

This act of obedience and faith can often be under appreciated. One writer once said,

“We need to be fully aware that Noah's salvation was ultimately God's doing, but we should also thoroughly and thoughtfully consider that Noah was fully involved with God in carrying out all that God told him to do.”

This means that Noah had made a deliberate decision, gigantic in proportion and seeming preposterous as it was, to obey God. Obedience was paramount in his life. As Spurgeon said:

“Obedience is the highest practical courage.”

​As we read though scripture, the importance of obedience is reiterated.

• Abraham obeyed God and through him the nation of Israel was established
• Moses obeyed God and became the vehicle through which deliverance came to Israel
• Esther chose to risk her life and seek an audience with the king to save her people, knowing it was the right thing to do.

Obedience and victory go hand in hand. 

This year shall we make a commitment to start as we mean to go on? Shall we decide to obey God in 2023, resolving todemonstrate the ‘highest practical courage’.  Let us remember and put into practice the words of Mary to the servants at the Wedding Feast of Cana in John 2:5:

““Whatever He says to you, do it.”

​Pauline Anderson