Noah and the Ark

So I am still in Genesis...soaking up this chronological Bible reading plan. Right now I am sipping on the Marshmallow Lover's hot chocolate I got for Christmas and thinking about Noah. 

Genesis 6:5-6

"The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke His heart."

This is the world in which Noah lived. A world that was "consistently and totally evil." And yet, we see in verse 8, "Noah found favor with the Lord."

What was it like to be Noah? Everything around him was evil. Every thought, every conversation, every deed was driven by impure motives and resulted in wickedness. So much so that God's heart was broken. God was in despair.

What was God thinking? The very reason he created earth...the reason he created time... the reason he hung the stars in the sky and created night and day...the very thing he breathed life into had turned against him. In verse 7 God says, "...I am sorry I ever made them."

After all of His time and effort to create life and a place for it to flourish...after he invested his own breath...He was so disgusted that what had been "very good" in Gen 1:31 had become, "consistently and totally evil" just 5 chapters later. 

I believe God was grieving, he was angry and hurt...to the point that he was ready to scratch it all. He would rather have none of it than to have a world bent on sin. 

But then, he remembered Noah...

Genesis 6:8-9

"Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God. "

What was it like to be the only man on earth to have a relationship with the Lord. Was the persecution relentless? How difficult was it to raise a family to love the Lord? Did he even try to tell people about God? The Romans Road hadn't been written. There was no Sinner's Prayer. What was is like at work? Was he worried about who his kids were hanging out with? 

What did the Lord feel when he looked at Noah? Was he reminded of why he started the whole thing to begin with? Did he see potential? He must have seen something, because he wiped the earth clean except for Noah, his family and an ark full of animals. 

I hope he sees the same thing when he looks at me. I pray that I will live like Noah...righteously, blamelessly and in close fellowship with the Lord.