A Matter of Life and Death

“But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy son; and thy sons’ wives

with thee.” (Gen. 6:18) 

         In the case of these four women, their choice of husbands (assuming they were given a choice) was literally a matter of life and death. They were the only four women who survived the deluge of water God used to destroy every other living man and woman. Were these women good? It doesn’t say they were. What is does say is that their father-in-law was. He alone was the one who “found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

         I don’t pretend to know all the implications of the “covenant” God established with Noah, and I’m convinced from Paul’s Epistles that salvation is an individual transaction with God. But the fact remains, in this case, being united with someone with a godly heritage made all the difference in the world for these women.

          Here’s what I do take from this story. I don’t say marrying someone with Christian parents is guarantee of a good marriage (it isn’t). What I do say is that as a believer, marriage to someone reared in an ungodly home, who came to know the Lord later in life, will guarantee unexpected obstacles that can be overcome by the grace of God, but at the cost of much heartache and pain.

         And one more thing. The husbands in this family may not have had movie star looks, or been great conversationalists or ardent lovers, but when water covered the whole earth, and they were the only ones with a boat, it didn’t make a whole lot of difference! You single gals, take notice. And you mothers, teach your girls to add a godly pedigree to their list of desirable characteristics in a mate, because their own Spiritual life may depend on it.