What Kind of Friend

Week 3:

Genesis 6:5-8

"The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.  So the Lord said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.'  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

I love that.  I love that Noah was such a friend to God that he could find favor in his friend's eyes.  That amazes me!  In verse 5 it said that the Lord saw that the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually.  "BUT, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord..."  That word "but" made history.  If it weren't for that "but" in the story, I would not even be here, sitting by my fireplace and writing this right now.  That "but" paved the way for hope.  Hope that there was still some good in the world.  That "but" was the friend that looks into someone's eyes and stops them from doing something terrible.  That was Noah.  Noah was the exception.  Noah stood for something.  Noah had hope, and he went against the grain of other people's thinking to do what he had to do.  Because sometimes in life, it takes a little bit of going against the grain to see something happen.  Sometimes hope feels like going against the grain of man's thinking, because what man thinks about is only what he can see, but hope sees the unseen and it paves a way for the impossible.  Noah had that hope and it gave him vision to see the impossible happen.