Finding God's Favor

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 

Genesis 6:8-9 NIV

Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Genesis 6:22 NIV

Have you ever heard the saying, "Don't do the crime if you can't pay the time"? The story of Noah is sort of the opposite end of the spectrum and may lead us to say, "There's no glory without the grind." 

Yes, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. He was blameless among the people of his time and he walked with God. He did everything just as God commanded him. Noah's relationship with the Lord was not passive. Building an ark, by hand, was labor intensive, to say the least, even with the help of his sons. 

The simple but poignant point is that Noah found favor with the Lord because he was obedient and in that demonstrated his faith. Jesus told the disciples, "You are my friends if you do what I command" (John 15:14). We find favor with the Lord when we obey his commands. His command is to love one another as he loved us. If you have walked with the Lord for any length of time you know that involves dying to oneself and putting the needs of others ahead of yours. That can be difficult and painful. And think about this: Noah found favor in God's eyes and then gave him the task of building the ark. 

When we are obedient and God blesses us with his favor that does not mean we sit around and sing worship songs all day long. God will bless you with a task to build the kingdom. Maybe that task involves building up your marriage, your children, your friends. It could be a lot of things, we just have to be willing to do everything he commands us to do.