Follow Instructions - Noah

Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

Genesis 6:22

A businessman purchased a credenza with “some assembly required” and transported it to his office. He knew his way around a tool set, so he cracked open the box with its dozens of wooden and metal parts and immediately recognized a problem. Here were the parts—but where were the instructions?

After scattering parts all over his office, the man finally found the assembly instructions at the bottom of the now-empty box. There, in giant letters across the top of the instruction sheet, he read the following warning:

PARTS ARE ARRANGED IN BOX IN ORDER OF ASSEMBLY.

DO NOT REMOVE FROM BOX UNTIL THEY ARE NEEDED.

A job that should have taken him forty-five minutes cost him four long, frustrating hours.

Good things come to men who fully and completely follow instructions! A man named Noah found out that this is especially true when constructing a huge boat that was to be home for him—along with his family and who knows how many animals—for several months.

Noah left nothing to chance as he prepared himself and his family for the coming Flood. He had heard God’s instructions, and he followed them to the letter, leaving nothing undone.

Though God called Noah a righteous man because of his obedience, Noah obeyed because he was a righteous man. Obedience is a two-way street that both flows from and produces righteousness.

Noah received good things from God because he faithfully followed the Lord’s clear instructions. The same can be true for you. When you follow God’s instructions in every area of life, you position yourself to receive good things from him.

Think of an area of life in which you believe that God has given you some pretty clear instructions, whether at work, at church, in your family, or in your neighborhood. Can he say of you, as he did of Noah, that you “did everything exactly as God had commanded”? If not, what remains undone that you can begin doing today?