When Noah built the ark, his sons learned what it truly means to believe in what we cannot yet see. Read here to see what we learn from this lesson as well.
by rev Lohan Linde
Noah is a fascinating figure in history, especially when we look at his role as a father. He received a command from the Lord, and he and his sons had to carry it out. This task shaped their entire lives. For the first nearly 100 years of his sons’ lives, the ark was their entire world. Yes, it really was that long!
One can imagine how these sons grew up with hammers and saws in their hands, how it became part of their daily routine—let’s build, let’s keep building. Yet they must have seen something in their father, something that made them willing to dedicate themselves to such an enormous task. The Lord even brought them wives who were also willing to commit to this journey.
Noah teaches us about true faith
Hebrews 11 teaches us:
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1
Later in the same chapter, Noah is listed as one of the so-called heroes of the faith:
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
Hebrews 11:7
How overwhelming must these commands have been for Noah? To prove his faith, he had to build an ark—to live up to what was said about him: Noah, a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries, and someone who walked faithfully with God.
We don’t have a precise indication of how long the ark took to build, but it’s estimated to have taken somewhere between 40 and 90 years; 90 years being the more realistic estimate.
That’s an entire lifetime by today’s standards spent building the ark!
Imagine chopping down the wood, cutting it into beams, transporting it to the building site, letting it dry—all without machinery, without trucks or chainsaws. Year after year, Noah kept building.
Plenty of time for the people around him to think he was mad, to ridicule and shun him.
How often must Noah have doubted what he was doing? How often did his sons see him tired, worn out, and frustrated? And yet, every morning, he got up and carried on. He persevered in his calling.
Who among us would do what Noah did?
To obey a command from God with no visible proof at all … But isn’t that precisely what faith is—and what is expected of us?
Noah was shown grace by God. He was chosen and set apart for a very specific purpose. It was entirely by grace, and in His grace, God showed Noah the path ahead.
This goes against everything that comes naturally to us as human beings. To become the object of mockery, to give up everything, to sacrifice oneself just to obey God—it sounds almost unreal. And yet that was Noah’s calling. And it echoes through the centuries, calling out to us as well.
While Noah continued building, and as he made progress, the people of his time had no idea that the end was drawing near. They simply carried on with their lives as usual.
Through all the ridicule, through the hard labour, his sons followed him. And so, he became not only a hero of faith but also a role model and a hero to his sons.
He was convinced of things not yet seen.
