What does it mean when someone asks you to show a little faith? They’re probably asking you to do something. God asks people to do things. For example, God asked Noah to build a boat (Genesis 6:14). And when God asked Noah to build a boat, he didn’t just ask him to build a little rowboat.
This ark was like the hulk of a ship, fitted to float upon the waters. It was very large, half the size of St. Paul’s cathedral, and would hold more than eighteen of the largest ships now used.
Can you imagine being Noah and going into to the forest to cut down those first trees? I am sure he wasn’t a popular man, considering that he was the only person in the entire world who God considered righteous (Genesis 6:8). I’m sure he didn’t get any help from the neighbors, well, except for maybe some taunts and jeers. “You’re building a big boat for some gigantic flood that will kill us all? That’s preposterous!” But in the end what did Noah do?
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
So we have an example of faith and how do we know that it was faith?
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
We know that it was faith because Noah did something! He didn’t wait for it to start raining really hard and say “God Save Me!” No, he listened to what God had told him and spent 120 years building a boat before God’s judgement was poured out on the earth. So in the end what did I learn from all this? Faith is Action!
