Reflections from Noah- The Movie

I recently watched the Noah, and I am ashamed to say that I kinda liked it.

Let me start by saying that I had low expectations for this movie.  And by low expectations, I mean he really low.  So low in fact that I was only willing to pay $1.25 to see it from the RedBox.  Needless to say, there was a lot of creative license taken in writing of the movie.  The whole environmentalist kick was– well, crazy. And what was those creatures?  Again, It was crazy. Despite the false approach to the Noah story narrative, there are some themes that jumped out at me that the creators of the movie really got right.

First and perhaps one of the most interesting themes that we see in the Old Testament is obedience.  Can you imagine the obedience that it took for this man to know that He heard from God and to stay the course and build an ark?  There was no praying for confirmation or second-guessing, Noah got his instructions and despite what anyone else said, he was obedient to God.  People likely called him crazy or worse.  I liken Noah to the obedience of Abraham, Moses and the other pillars of the Old Testament that received these huge mandates from God, and they just went with it- despite the cost.

That makes me think of my struggle to be obedient.  Am I willing to be sold-out for Christ despite the cost- the ridicule or possible death?  Am I willing to have my family, perhaps even my spouse or children, call me crazy because I believe God?

The second interesting point of the movie for me was the story of Ham.  What the movie made plain for me was Ham’s contempt for his father.  In the movie, Ham walks away from the family settlement to build his own land– Canaan.  Ham had just experienced the worst storm ever, and instead of focusing on the fact that he survived and is indeed thriving, all he can see is the effect of the storm.  How many times have I witnessed something miraculous from God and instead of seeing the miraculous, I think about the negative thing that required the miraculous to happen in the first place.  And in my focusing on that, I turn from God and go build my own land.  My heart shuttered as I watched Ham walk away.  How many times as that been me?

There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12 (NIV)