“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.” (Hebrews 11:7)
We often think of faith as being something we exercise in hope that God does something for us we want Him to do. While that is one expression of faith, notice that Noah by faith built an ark (Gen. 5-10)! Faith is often measured by our obedience. Noah’s faith was rooted in “godly fear” – a deep reverence for God.
Noah built the ark because he was “divinely warned of things not yet seen” – there had never before been a flood, so Noah had to trust God even though he didn’t fully understand what was about to happen. I would assume Noah took lots of criticism for building this ark. Have you ever thought about how the materials for the ark and the labor to build it were paid for? It probably took about 75 years to build the ark! Notice that Noah didn’t try to use his faith to get God to do what he was capable of doing!