“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 comes by faith” ( Hebrews 11:7 )

It takes faith to build an ark. Only one man has ever needed this kind of faith. Even though Noah had never heard of or experienced rain, let alone the flooding that exists with earth covering amounts of water, he obeyed God when instructed to build the ark. He had only God’s word to counter everything he knew and had previously experienced.

Noah was six hundred years old when the ark was finished and probably endured endless harassment by society during construction. Yet he did not waver in faith but carried out every detail as instructed. This is faith in action. Noah is a text book case of the definition of faith, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” ( Hebrews 11:1 ). He believed God when all indicators of reality pointed another direction.

Backing up to the beginning of this account we see that Noah had found favor in the eyes of the Lord, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God” ( Genesis 6:5-9 ).

Noah was righteous and blameless and had a long history of fellowshipping with God. His track record of seeing God true to His word was all the reassurance he needed year after year while building the ark. With each board put in place Noah condemned the world of its wickedness choosing to believe God. Because of this he saved his family, livestock, animal species and future generations while obtaining the righteousness that comes through faith.

Now we have a wonderful reminder of Noah and the covenant that God made with him and future generations that He would never again flood the earth. A rainbow in the sky speaks of this one man’s faith ( Genesis 9:8-17 ). He overcame every obstacle, public humiliation and believed God, condemned the world of its wickedness and inherited the righteousness that comes by faith. What an amazing example to encourage us in our journey!

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” ( Hebrews 11:6 )

Faith is a must. Faith is the entrance point to a relationship with God. He interacts with us based on His grace, we respond in faith. Given the basis of this type of relationship we understand how important faith is to the believer. In fact, this passage boldly declares that without it, it is impossible to please God because the simple truth remains that we must believe that He is before we can come to Him.

If faith is the starting point, then it makes sense that faith is a key element for life. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus commented on people’s faith. In most cases He asked and wondered where it was, saying ‘you of little faith’ or ‘where is your faith?’. On other occasions He marveled, as in the example of the centurion solider ( Matthew 8:5-13 ). When the centurion came to Jesus asking for help for his servant Jesus agreed to come with him. But in a marvelous display of faith he told Jesus to just say the word and it would be done; citing his understanding of authority and appropriating it. “When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith” ( Matthew 8:10 ). The centurion’s faith made Jesus stop and marvel which is noteworthy. “Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour” ( Matthew 8:13 ). The healing took place according to the faith of the solider and in the manner he asked for, Jesus just came into agreement with the faith that had been displayed.

If it is impossible to please God without faith. The opposite is also true; faith is what pleases God. As in our examples from the gospels, faith was important to Jesus, He looked for it and responded to it everywhere He went. So the underlying truth to draw from is that God responds to faith. It pleases Him, it moves Him to act and it is essential in the life of the believer.