While reading Rabbi Shalom Arush’s book, Say “Thank You” and See Miracles – The Garden of Miracles, he wrote in something in it that caused me to stop and ponder a bit more on what Noah must have gone through when he was told about the Flood and up to the time he and his family entered the Ark.

On page 178 – story 82 Rabbi Arush wrote, “The important thing is that he learns to live with Hashem in any situation.”

Following the Garden of Gratitude, Say “Thank You” is all about being happy with your lot in life and being able to say “Thank You” to the Creator in any situation one is in, and that everything the Creator is for the persons best no matter how bad or difficult it may seem. The Say “Thank You book has 190 stories from all situations including terminal illness to dire financial issues, showing the power of gratitude.

The statement said above got me thinking about Noah. In Genesis 6:9 we are told that “Noah walked with God”

In Rabbi Arush’s book we learn the importance of gratitude in our lives as we live with the Creator on a daily basis. For Noah to walk with God and to be able to do everything that the Creator had asked, he would have learned to live with the Creator in any situation that came his way.

Now just think about it for a moment, though Noah walked with God, it did not cause him to cease from having friends and other family members that he dealt with on a regular basis. He, most likely had folks he knew, that everything in their life did have not measured up but he still had friends and even may have done business with them. Then one day the Creator comes to you and tells you that all flesh was to be wiped out because of their sins and as we read on his immediate family was able to board the Ark on the account of his righteousness.

At the moment he was told that there was coming a flood that would kill basically everyone and everything that he had known – he had to be steadfast in his faith and live with the Creator in that moment. All we are told in the Scriptures is that he walked with God, but when you bring that down to a personal level and ponder the day to day issues of that statement, it makes you realize that there is so much more to the life of Noah than what is on the surface.

In his everyday life he walked with God and the humanity around him and yet he was able to hold on to his righteousness and emuna/faith. With all that was going on in his life he could not have had the level of righteousness he had without a high level of emuna/faith as well.

Noah was a man of God in his time, but he was also a man, a human whose faith was tested and the statement the Rabbi made seemed to bring this closer to home for me. I know that my own faith needs work, but If I was told that basically everyone I know and the places I have been would cease to be, it would be a hard time for me and my walk with God; of course it would have nothing to do with Him but me and my attitude and faith.

It is easy to say, “live with God in any situation” but when the rubber meets the road as it did with Noah, we begin to see that there is more to having daily faith in God than what religious platitudes tell us.

So Noah walked with God – he lived with Him  trough all the situations thrown at him. A life like that is not easy, it just means that he did it – it was not impossible and when one ponders such a life it gives you hope during the trying times that is sent your way.

Through all that happened in his lifetime the book of Genesis tells us that Noah did everything he was commanded and that he walked with God. A great picture of emuna/faith and obedience in every situation.

Terry W. Hayes
4/2018

Photo Credit: Abigail Keenan on Unsplash