What would you do if your best friend or your spouse came to you and said, “God spoke to me. He told me to do something that doesn’t make sense and will take a long time”? Would you stand by that person? Would you support him or her?
This is the position Noah’s wife finds herself in. God tells Noah to build a huge boat, big enough for animals to live on, along with enough food to sustain them. He says there will be a flood, and everyone and everything not on the boat will die.
However, there’s no water nearby. Everyone laughs. They mock Noah for being foolish. Surely, he’s crazy. From everyone’s perspective, she’s married to a madman, one who claims to hear from God and persists in doing something audacious.
This goes on for years, one hundred years. Surely friends and neighbors ostracize them. Not only must they work hard to build their boat, but I’m sure they do so in isolation.
The Bible doesn’t tell us if Noah’s wife supports him or not, but since she’s allowed to go on the boat and be saved from drowning, it’s likely she stood by her man despite what others thought, said, or did. That’s loyalty. That’s commitment.
She’s an example for us all to follow.
How loyal are we to our spouse, family, and friends? Do we need to make any changes?
[Discover more about Noah’s wife in Genesis 5–9, specifically Genesis 5:32, Genesis 6:10, 18, Genesis 7:7, 13, and Genesis 8:16.]
Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
