PUT FEET TO FAITH

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith – Hebrews 11:7

“All of the heroes of faith in Hebrews’ faith hall of fame took God at His Word and stepped out “by faith.” Let’s look at one. Noah really wasn’t so different from you and me…

Many scholars believe that before the Flood it had never before rained on the earth. Noah lived in the middle of a desert and yet he decided to take 110 years to build a big boat because God told him that there was going to be a flood. Talk about trusting God for what you can’t see! What did living by faith entail for Noah?

♣ Working and sweating for over one hundred years without seeing any evidence of a flood.
♣ Hearing ridicule from the townspeople: “Hey, crazy Noah, still working on your boat?”
♣ Suffering the loneliness of being the only righteous man in town for over a century.

All this time Noah could not see the outcome.

I’m sure his feelings gave him problems just like ours do. Many of us have trained ourselves to live by our feelings, to give in to every impulse and emotion. As Christians we reject the “if it feels good, do it” philosophy of our society, but some of it has slowly seeped into our souls. Our pragmatic society has trained us to believe only what we can see.

THE PROBLEM: Living by FEELINGS
We live by our feelings and what we can see
THE RESULT of living by feelings? An ANXIOUS HEART.

THE SOLUTION: Living by FAITH
We must live by trusting God for what we can’t see.
THE RESULT of living by faith? A CALM HEART.

Are my eyes on Jesus or on my problem? Are my thoughts centered on the fact of God’s Word or on my circumstances? ...

Faith looks to God, but feelings look to what is going on around us. Faith hopes in WHO GOD IS and in WHAT HE HAS PROMISED.

This is how Noah lived. He took God at His Word, even though building an ark in the desert made no sense, even though a century passed before he could see the reality of his faith. God commended Noah’s faith and called him “an heir of righteousness.” God chose him from among all the heroes of the Bible to be an example of a man who obeyed God and lived by faith.

Noah didn’t just accept the fact of God’s Word intellectually. He put “feet to his faith” and began pounding nails. With each nail he was affirming, “I believe You, God.” True faith is always active. Oswald Chambers described faith as “abandoned confidence in Him.” It definitely took this for Noah to continue pounding nails for one hundred years.”