Adam and Eve walked with God until they did not (Genesis 3:8). 

“Enoch walked with faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away,” (5:24). 

“Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God,” (6:9). 

Righteous, blameless Noah was given instructions for building an ark (6:11-21). “Noah did everything just as God commanded him,” (verse 22). 

When it came time for the rain to fall and the floodwaters to rise, God told Noah to get into the ark with his family and with all the birds and animals he would send to him (7:1-4, 8, 9). 

“And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him,” (verse 5). 

The rain stopped. The floodwaters receded. Noah then devised tests to assess the progress of the drying of the earth (8:1-14). When the earth was completely dry (verse 14), “Then God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives,” (verses 15 and 16). 

Can you predict what happened next without reading ahead because of what you know about Noah? Verse 18 tells us, “So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.” The animals and birds also disembarked. 

Why was Noah called righteous and blameless in 6:9? The second half of the verse tells us, “He walked faithfully with God.”

My bride and I take walks together frequently. Sometimes we ponder our plans or our problems. Sometimes we pray. We have conversations on our walks unlike most of our other discussions. Miles of steps provide space to unpack ideas. Commercial breaks or pauses in the action of what is on television constrict contemplation. Our thoughts are less well-formed.

Long walks with God while pondering his words of truth and life and praying Bible prayers like Psalm 23 and what we call the Lord’s Prayer, enrich our understanding and focus our application of God’s plans.

Noah and Company were on that boat for a year. Even though there was ample evidence it was safe to step foot back onto dry ground, Noah waited until God told him to do so. Here is the answer to why Noah was called righteous and blameless. He knew the heart and mind of God and trusted his perfect timing and provision. 

Knowing how to hear God clearly and respond to God appropriately is the most important thing we can ever learn and the single best lesson we can ever teach. It is the kind of lifestyle and instruction best modeled consistently and continually. 

Let’s say you are going to get up out of your chair now and put on your walking shoes to take a thirty-minute walk. You consider Noah as you do so. You take to heart how he faithfully walked with God and thereby knew God’s heart and mind. How will you pray in response to what you have learned?

Ask God to speak to your heart and to give you ears to hear what he is saying. Ask him to give you a willing heart to do whatever he asks. 

Ask God to build his righteousness into your life. Ask him to empower you to do the right thing the right way in the right timing in all things at all times. 

Ask God to empower you to do what he says no matter how challenging. Trust him to provide whatever you need wherever he guides. 

It does not take long to see righteous, blameless Noah fail (9:18-28). You will fail. Ask God to forgive your sin. Ask him for a fresh start to begin again more intelligently. Trust God to provide what you need in that moment just as he provided for Adam and Eve (3:21). God’s adornment of clothing was far superior to the fig leaves Adam and Eve sewed together (3:7). 

As King David would later say in the great Shepherd Psalm, “my cup overflows.” God is better to us than we are to ourselves. His grace is always greater than our sin. 

Peter called Noah a “preacher of righteousness,” (2 Peter 2:5). We have no transcript of a sermon from Noah. Instead, we have his example. If we learn the lessons of his life, we will preach our own wordless sermons and speak more poignantly than words can convey.

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