"BY FAITH" - Who can be saved? Am I saved? Are you?

Heavenly Father, thank you for your many blessings in our lives. Thank you for not forsaking us, and for your unending grace (favor) upon us. Let Your words and Your will be mine, and let Your children with eyes and ears, see and hear the words. Amen.

This is another aspect of the same story, which God began putting on my heart around the end of last year, and just today, as I was reading Genesis, yet again, showed me the following scripture, and shone His Light on it for my discernment:

“And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.” Genesis 5:29

Gen. 5:29 is one of those scriptures I read, put to the back of my mind, and then keep going, because what the literal heck does it mean? I mean, how on earth did Noah ‘comfort’ anyone when all of mankind died in the flood except Noah and seven other human beings?

So, the LORD cursed the ground to which Genesis 5:29 refers when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:

Genesis 3

God Curses the Ground for Adam’s Sake

17 “. . . cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you . . .”

Also, at this same time, God tells Adam that the ground will be cursed all the days of his life. What else do we know from the time of Adam?

Well, we know that there was no rain, only a mist that came up from the ground:

Genesis 2:5-6 “5. . . for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth . . . 6 But a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”

I read somewhere previously that this ‘mist’ came up only in certain areas, and the vegetation grew only in those areas. The rest of the land was desolate and, one could say, only yielded ‘thorns’ and ‘thistles.’

We can confirm from Hebrews 11:7 below that there was no rain until the time of the great flood:

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house . . .” Hebrews 11:7.

‘Being warned of God of things not seen as yet.’

Of what ‘things not seen as yet’ did God warn Noah at that time? Scripture tells us that God warned Noah of rain, and a lot of it!

“For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights . . .” Genesis 7:4

So, God warned Noah of rain, and 'by faith. . . moved with fear,' Noah listened to God. Noah, nor anyone alive, had ever heard of, or seen, rain before this time. The only water they knew of, since the time of Adam, over 1,600 years (from Adam's birth in 4114 BC to the great flood around 2458 BC), was a mist that came up from the ground. Genesis 2:6. This is why everyone was carrying on their lives as if nothing were going to happen, eating, drinking, marrying and having children. Luke 17:27.

'By faith . . . moved with fear,' Noah listened to God, but no one else had the same faith in God, or fear in God's words through Noah, and they would not listen to Noah’s warnings. They did not know what rain was until it began to rain, and then, of course, it was too late for them. They had not listened to or obeyed God, and they had not followed the standard, or flag, God placed in their lives.

As I wrote that, the Holy Spirit said write the following: We should always follow the standard, or flag, God places in our lives, to warn and direct us in times of trouble. We see example after example in the Bible of God telling His chosen how to survive the times: If the water is foretold to rise, build a boat; if the rocks are falling, take shelter; if there is famine in the land, store food; if an army is coming, run to the walled cities, et cetera. God will never allow His children to be tempted more than they can withstand! Listen to God!

In conclusion, ending where I began, at Genesis 5:29: “And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.”

Ultimately, Noah did comfort us, not only by being found righteous in God’s eyes, and thereby saving mankind, but, also, because God blessed Noah and his sons, opened the heavens and caused it to begin raining on the earth for the first time in over 1,600 years. This gave mankind the opportunity to rise above the 'thorns' and 'thistles' with which the ground was cursed for Adam's sake.

Finally, we know that Noah comforted us because God sealed His new covenant with Noah by placing a rainbow in the clouds. God said that when He sees the rainbow, it will remind Him of His covenant with man, and to never again destroy the earth with a flood.

God is great - all the time!

So, are you listening to God 'by faith,' and 'moved with fear' even? As Jesus said, you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe who have not seen me. John 20:29

Hallelujah! Praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.