# 76 Cutting Corners

The Book of Genesis Day 76 Ge 6:22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. 7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. One of the things to remember in reading Scripture is that “chapter and verse” did not come along until around 1227 A.D. They were developed by Stephen Langton an archbishop of Canterbury who divided the Scriptures into chapters. The first published Bible to use the chapter divisions was the Wycliffe Bible of 1382. The division of verses came to the Old Testament around 1448 thanks to a Jewish Rabbi named Nathan, and in 1555 Robert Estienne (also known as Stephanus) added the New Testament. I say this because I think it’s important to link this last verse of chapter 6 in Genesis with the first verse in chapter 7. God saw that Noah was righteous because Noah did all that God commanded him, and the evidence was this big old ark sitting in the middle of nowhere! Faith without the evidence of works is dead! (James 2:17) Hebrews 11:7 gives us even more insight as to what was taking place in the heart and hands of Noah: “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. There’s an awful lot of stuff packed in that one verse! It was Noah’s faith in God’s divine warning of an event that had not even taken place yet that resulted in the building of the ark. His motivation? Godly fear. The word “fear” here is not what we typically think of when we think of fear. It means “to be wary and unwilling to take risks!” I get the sense here that Noah built that ark paying close attention to the details that God gave him, not willing to compromise, (take unwilling risks) because a leaky boat would not cut it in the coming deluge. God said it, Noah believed it, and so he built it in complete accordance with the instructions from God. Hmmm, any message for you and I in the matter of compromising God’s Word today? Reflect: It’s funny, we pay closer attention to the “do it yourself” instructions that come with Ikea products than we do with God’s instructions for righteous living as found in Scripture. Where do you see the “church” at large cutting corners today? Are there any areas where you may be cutting corners? What can we do about that? Pray: Lord, give us the uncompromising heart and faith of Noah, and help us to correct any mistakes, lest we sink our boat!