Finish Well

"Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent." -Genesis 9.20-21

I read Genesis 9 this morning, and I've been thinking about this most of the day. And I'm still not 100% where we're going with this yet, so let's see where we end up.

I can actually relate to Noah pretty well with this first part. The man is stuck on a boat for months with nothing to look at outside but water. He had been on land for 600 years, and suddenly it's gone. The family homestead was buried under who knows how much water. And finally when he's back on dry ground, he begins to farm and plants a vineyard. I can imagine how he felt, and how excited he was. I just want a piece of ground to begin working and planting.

I love gardening, getting to enjoy the fruit of your labor. And so I can imagine he took to it with haste and excitement. And there was nothing wrong with it. God created man and place him in a garden to tend and care for it. We've lost the garden, but in many ways we try to recreate what we lost. And I imagine Noah had a nice set up. But then things get a little out of control. He makes wine, nothing wrong there, but then he drinks a little too much and gets plastered, now we have a problem.

In his drunken state, Noah loses control. He uncovers himself in his tent, and his son sees him, which ends up bringing a curse upon him. And this is the last thing we are told about Noah. He got drunk and fell asleep in his tent naked. We have here a lesson we'll see time and again as we journey through the Bible, finish well. The story begins with a righteous and blameless man of great faith. He obeys God, even with the craziest commands. It says that he walked with God, but the last thing we hear about him is this.

And we are told at the end of the chapter, "Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood." (verse 28) We aren't told that he walked with God, but that he lived. Again, we don't know the rest of the details of those 350 years, this is all we get about his life after the flood, but I doubt this is the final thing Noah would have wanted us to know about him.

What about you? What is the last thing you want people to know about you? How do you want to finish and be remembered? Every time I think of Noah, yeah I think about the righteous man who built an ark and was saved, but I think of the drunk, naked guy too. How do you want to finish?

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor