Our God is
good and gracious. He allows it to rain on both the just and the unjust. In His
goodness there is also room for justice, which means sometimes He punishes.
On some
occasions, in the midst of blessing His children, the wicked are spared. For
example, Abraham once had a dialog with God about his nephew Lot. Lot lived
among wicked people, and God shared with Abraham that He was going to destroy
Sodom, where Lot lived. By the end of that dialog, God had agreed to not
destroy the place if He found ten people who were not wicked (see Genesis
18:16-33).
Also, in the
days of Noah, God decided to wipe people off the face of the earth, because
“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” (Genesis
6:5). So He said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of
the earth” (Gen 6:7). Verse 8 says, “But Noah found favor with the Lord.”
Apparently, he was the only righteous, blameless person living
on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God (see Genesis
6:9).
I wonder,
what the world’s population was like, if Noah was the only righteous person in
the world? This leads me to conclude his own family cared nothing about God.
This is sad and beyond understanding. Like the Scriptures say, God does not do
anything without revealing it to His prophets (see Amos 3:7). So He confided in
Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the
earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!” (Gen
6:13). God followed that revelation with instructions for Noah to build a large
boat to house him, his family, and the animals for safety.
Furthermore,
God said to Noah, “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will
destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. But I
will confirm my covenant with you” (6:17-17).
It struck me
that although Noah was the only righteous person, his family was saved,
including his daughters-in-law. God is indeed merciful; for our sake, He can
choose to bless our loved ones! One righteous person is better than no
righteous people. Let’s be faithful in our walk with God!
Nevertheless, when it comes to salvation, it is an individual
issue. God does not call us by groups, family, or church. Salvation through
Christ is on an individual basis. When the jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?” They responded, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you
will be saved” (Acts 16: 30-31). We cannot be saved on behalf of others, no
matter how much we love or care about them. Each person has to want to, and
should ask to be saved, so let’s share the gospel with our loved ones and those
with whom we come in contact!
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