Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Standing Against Culture’s Tide

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It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith. (Hebrews 11:7)

Noah was not just an ark builder. Before the flood, he was “a preacher of righteousness,” and a man who “found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (2 Peter 2:5; Genesis 6:8).

Between the time God told Noah there would be a flood and the first sprinkles of rain, one hundred and twenty years elapsed. So for almost a century and a quarter—that’s longer than any of us will live—Noah was building the ark and preparing for God’s judgment.

The LORD saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5 NASB)

But Noah was different.

He was sensitive to God; he heard God’s message. God informed Noah of His plan: He was going to destroy the world with a flood. So for one hundred and twenty years, by faith, Noah followed the Lord’s leading. He gathered the materials and he built the ark, probably to the ridicule of everyone around him. After all, this was a world that had never known rain; the earth was watered from beneath.

And while Noah was building this ark, he was preaching righteousness to those around him. “The flood’s coming, judgment’s coming.” Surrounded and mocked by his depraved, wicked contemporaries, this preacher of righteousness, by faith, stood against the tide of his culture.

Sometimes our faith is such a rebuke to our peers that we suffer persecution because of it. No extra charge for this simple warning: Don’t expect overwhelming approval and affirmation just because you’ve chosen to walk by faith.

Right now, your life of faith, lived in a culture of contemporary depravity, may not seem all that significant. Living out your faith at the office or in that university dorm or in your high school may feel pretty lonely. Walking by faith and honoring the Lord in your factory or in your profession or in the military may seem futile at times. In fact, in your own lifetime, you may never know the significance of your walk of faith. But God will use you in His special plan for your life.