During Noah's time, the Bible says in Genesis 6:5 that the Lord saw that man's wickedness was great on the earth. It was so great that the Bible says that every intention of man's thoughts was only evil continually. That is a lot of wickedness on the earth!

This wickedness grieved the heart of God. The Bible says in Genesis 6:6 that the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth.

God's regret that He had created man led Him to say in Genesis 6:7, "I will blot out man whom I have created."

This blotting out included not only humanity but also animals, creeping things, and birds in the air. It was an extremely heavy, sorrowful, and sad moment in humanity's history.

Yet during this very dark day, the Bible tells us in Genesis 6:8, "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

Finding Favor in God's Eyes

Noah was a bright spot to God amid the darkness and evil of the world in his day. What does it mean to find favor with God? It means to be pleasing in God's sight and to have a relationship with Him built on trust and obedience to Him. In the New Testament, the Bible says Jesus grew in favor and stature with God and with man. Favor is simply others placing belief in you due to certain actions or circumstances in which the person in view has acted in a way that garners the attention, approval, and blessing of those in view.

Noah found approval and blessing in God's sight. He was seen as pleasing to God. Why? Genesis 6:9 says that Noah was a righteous and blameless man in his generation. Why did God see him as a righteous and blameless man in his generation? Genesis 6:9 says that Noah walked with God.

A Walk With God

What does it mean that Noah walked with God? Noah's relationship with God impacted every aspect of his life. He walked in fellowship, obedience, and a deep awareness of God's presence in his life. This does not mean he was perfect by any means, and the text will show that after the flood receded. Noah had his problems, too, just like every other human in the world. But Noah made his walk with God his focus.

He strove to be obedient to what God had created him to do and be. He had a deep awareness of God's presence in his life regardless of the challenges, circumstances, or others' views and opinions of him. He was committed to being who God had created him to be and doing what God had created him to do.

The Enemy's Strategy and Noah's Choice

The Enemy works overtime to get the intentions of humans' thoughts, feelings, and eventually actions to mirror their selfish desires and wishes. The Enemy uses pain to provoke the desire for each person to seek selfish gain in the face of the sorrows and suffering of this life. The Enemy knows his best work is accomplished when he gets humanity to do his work for him. But Noah walked with God.

It's not that Noah was perfect—far from it. It's not that Noah didn't have weaknesses, selfishness, and intentions that needed purifying—every human does. It wasn't Noah's performance or perfectionism that garnered God's favor. It was simply that Noah walked with God. He made God's intentions for his life his focus. He made a relationship with God his daily practice. He walked with God, and God made him righteous because of this.

When a person walks with God life change occurs in them. When a person stops walking with God corruption occurs and takes over in them. In Noah's day, the global response to evil was to accept it and not only accept it but practice it. And not only practice it but make it the foremost goal and intention of every desire.

The evil of Noah's day rose to such a level that the smell in God's nostrils toward humanity was sickening. This led Him to bring severe judgment upon the earth to rid it of the massive corruption that ruled the globe. Genesis 6:11 says the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and it was filled with violence.

The Pattern of Corruption and Violence

Corruption and violence always go hand in hand. When the corruption of the world rises to a certain level, predators begin to prey on the weak for their selfish desires. Throughout history, we have seen enslavement, whether due to race differences or gender. The modern-day enslavement that rules the globe today is sex trafficking. Corruption always leads to violence. This was true in Noah's day and is seen throughout history, even to the present day.

Because of the excessive corruption and violence of Noah's day, God declared to Noah in Genesis 6:13, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh." This determination leads God to have Noah build an ark of gopher wood or shittim wood. God outlines for Noah in Genesis 6 how he is to build the ark and what and who he is to take on the ark with him.

Once the ark is completed, God tells Noah in Genesis 7:1, "Go into the ark, you and all your household." It paid to be a part of Noah's household. Throughout the Bible, God's blessings come through the authority God has established in the home and, in the New Testament, the church. God's blessings for others always come through the authority God has established. Righteous authorities receive righteous blessings for themselves and for those they represent.

In Genesis 7:1, God told Noah, "I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation."

Why God Declared Noah Righteous

Noah was obedient to who God asked him to be and what God had asked him to do. God's view of a human's righteousness is not based on their performance, perfectionism, or people's approval of them. It is solely based on His view of their relationship to Him. Noah was focused on fellowship with God, obedient to what God had asked him to do, and had a deep awareness of God in his internal personal life and his relationships with others.

Simply put, Noah lived to walk with God, obey God, and make Him famous to others. Because of this focus, God declared him righteous in his generation and chose him to build the ark to preserve humanity and wildlife. Romans 5:1 says humanity is justified, made righteous, and declared good in God's sight by faith. This faith gives humanity access to peace with God through Jesus Christ.

Each person on earth has access to and opportunity to receive justification of righteousness from God if they choose to act as Noah did. Righteousness is not a performance or a destination of perfection in this life but simply a willful choice to walk with God, obey what He has asked of them, and live to fulfill who and what they have been created to be and do. Noah did just that in his generation and caught God's eye.

God Still Seeks Faithful Hearts Today

2 Chronicles 16:9 says, "The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."

God saw Noah, and He saw others, too, who followed his example of obedience.

Noah was chosen to build the ark because God knew, based on Noah's faithfulness, that he would do what God asked him to do.

And he did!

Every human since Noah has him to thank for their existence on planet Earth.

Thank you, Noah, for your obedience to walk with God, obey God, and fulfill God's purpose for your life. Noah's example of righteousness is one for all to emulate in Jesus' name.