As we think about the time of Noah in comparison to the world of today, we have to remember that, despite the fallenness of the world around him, Noah was faithful. God told him to do something that was pretty radical. In a world that had never experienced rain, he was being asked to build a boat. They would seemingly be no reason to do such a thing. All prior experience would have led know what to believe that there was going to be no flood. After all, nothing like that had ever happened before. However, all that we hear about Noah’s response is really all that is important.

“Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22, NIV).

It can be tempting to compromise our principles in a world that is going crazy. After all, if everybody else is doing it, we sometimes think that it is okay for us to do it too. If it seems to work for them and they don’t really seem to be any consequences bad actions, it is easy for us to lose our resolve and compromise. After all, as we spoke about on Monday, our human propensity toward doing that which is wrong and rebelling against God has not changed.

I spoke about Syria on Monday. I wrote about how it was horrendous to see the abuse of power evident when a dictator releases Chemical Weapons on his own people, including nonmilitary civilians and children. The wrong conclusion to draw from that type of action is that it is suddenly okay for other world leaders to be doing the same thing to their people. After all, if Syria can do it, why can’t another country do it?

The right conclusion to draw from this tragic event is that, regardless of how you feel about the action taken by the United States, England and France intervening in this situation, using chemical weapons on your own people is objectively wrong. There are of course, in any conflict, casualties expected, and weapons of various types are going to be used. However, watching children and other civilians as the victims of such attacks is something that I believe we can agree on as evil.

I think the circles back to my previous point. We want to make sure that we do not do that which is evil just because other people may be doing it. We want to do as God Commands whether or not it appears profitable, popular or socially acceptable. Like Noah, we need to hold on to our righteousness because it is important, and doing what God commands is what we ought to actually spend our time on.

It may look crazy, and people may not understand. The choices we make maybe incredibly countercultural. They might even be to our disadvantage in the eyes of the world, but, it is important to do what God says right away. After all, if Noah thought that he could wait a few years before beginning construction on his vessel, it would have been too late. Following God needs to happen all the time.