Noah's Wife in Review

Hello Everyone,

HE GOT UP!!!  With all power in His hands!!

I pray that you all have had a blessed Resurrection Sunday and a beneficial time this Lent season.  As my family and I rapped up our 40 day lent study, we all reflected on the greater impact this season has head.  I have acknowledged lent since I was ten years old.  That is how long I have been walking in salvation.  Every year I was raised to fast for forty days; only have one meal, and refrain from watching television, newspapers, etc.  I never made it the whole 40 days.

However, this year, had such a greater impact on me.  I did not focus on the fasting. Instead I made a conscious choice to spend even more time in the word of God and in my quiet time to hear from the Lord.   I spent more time studying supportive biblical references instead of magazines and popular news.  I followed the principles of the lent study that myself, my husband, and our son decided to study as a family.  I feel much more enriched than I ever felt.  Good Friday was so much more than the ceremonial traditions that I had been grandfathered into.  This time when Palm Sunday came upon us I was truly sorrowful in reflecting on what the day represented and on Resurrection Sunday I was truly elated that He rose!!!  I experienced a more spiritual connection to the glory of God and the great sacrifice of Jesus.

My prayer is that everyone is steadily progressing in their spiritual walk and growing closer to God. I hope that this study of Noah's wife aided you during your time of consecration in this lent season.  God is calling us to a higher place of praise in Him.  We must answer the call.

This week we will review the lessons of Noah's wife.  I pray that you will have time to go back and review some of the biblical principles we've covered in regards to studying Noah's wife.

Noah's Wife in Review

Lesson 1
Introducing Noah's Wife
Resource:  Genesis 7:7

• The necessity of honoring God's divine order
• God, man, woman
• God, Jesus, Holy Spirit

Lesson 2
The Perfect Match
Resource: Genesis 5:28-29, 32

• God knows and has our perfect match
• Fulfilling the Godly purpose of support as a woman
• Equally yoked for God's glory (2 Corinthians 6:14)

Lesson 3
It is Better to Obey
Resource: Genesis 7:13, 16

• Obedience requires submission
• Submission requires surrendering
• Binding flesh and surrendering to God

Lesson 4
God is Faithful
Resource: Genesis 8:15-18, 9:1-3

• Obedience pleases God
• Submission pleases God
• We were created to please (glorify) Him

Application

This week as you are resting and recovering from the many activities of Ash Wednesday, Lent season, Good Friday, Passover, Palm Sunday, and Resurrection Sunday, let's reflect on Noah's wife in our quiet.  We have truly felt the blessings of this nameless woman in her obedience to God.  There is so much to glean from her silent strength.

Next week we will continue the review of Noah's wife and then reconvene on  May 7th.

Have a blessed week!

Be blessed,

T. Carter

References

All biblical verses were extracted from the New King James version of the Bible. YouVersion (2014)

DeMoss, Nancy Leigh & Kassian, Mary (2012). True Woman 101:Divine Design.  Moody Publishers. Chicago, Illinois

James, Kevin (2014).  No Longer a Prisoner to the Past. New Community Bible Fellowship. Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Mears, Henrietta (1999).  What the Bible is All About.  Regal Publishing House.  Ventura, California

Nelson, Thomas (1997). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the WHole Bible. Thomas Nelson Publishing.  Nashville, Tenessee

Wolgemuth, Barbara & Wolgemuth, Robert (2013).  Couples of the Bible Zondervan Publishing House.  Grand Rapids, Michigan

Lesson 4: Noah's Wife - God is Faithful

Hello Everyone,

I pray that everyone is well and is having a blessed week.  I hope that you all have gleaned something from the study of Noah's wife thus far.  Many women expressed that they benefited from writing in their journals this week.  I have maintained the habit of writing in a journal for over 20 years.  Writing in a journal helps me to constantly evaluate myself.  I sometimes read old journals and I thank God for how He brought me out.  It also allows me to see how faithful God has been to me; in all my personal craziness, He is still faithful.

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday and this week is resurrection week.  I wonder what this truly means to all of us.  Is it more than a new dress, shoes, an Easter basket and egg hunts?  My family and I decided to study the meaning of lent for the 40 days from Ash Wednesday leading up to Resurrection Sunday.  There is a scripture text and a devotional application attached to each day of the study.  Many people practice religious rituals of fasting to honor and acknowledge the forty days Jesus fasted in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-2).  However, this study of the Lent season revealed that the main purpose of lent is to assess and consecrate ourselves for Christ.  It should be a time of reflection, sacrifice, and consecration.  So if we are fasting from food and we are filling that craving with anything other than God, then the sacrifice is in vain (Mark 7:7-10).

As we move toward the end of this study about Noah's wife and resurrection Sunday, I hope that you all are consecrating yourselves and truly reflecting how faithful God is, despite ourselves.

Resource

Genesis 8: 15-18, 9:1-3

15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth".  18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him.

1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.  I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.

Lesson

Noah's wife was by his side, every step of the way.  God designed her to be his perfect match.  She was designed to support Noah through his journey of his life (Genesis 2:18).  The fact that God made man and woman is a mere implication that Noah would not have been able to complete this journey without his wife.  He would not have had his son's.  He needed a helper to bare his sons and help him along the way.  Noah and his wife honors God divine design of order (Genesis 1:27).

Through Noah's wife practicing obedience, she gained the favor of God.  She was one of the only women to board the ark and survive the flood.  God chose her offspring to repopulate the earth (Genesis 1:28, 9:1-3).  Noah's blessing was her blessing.

God is faithful.  He gave Noah the knowledge, ingenuity and strength to build an ark that kept every being safe in order to repopulate the earth.  He also gave Noah a submissive and obedient wife with a heart to obey God and an honor her husband.

We are quick to lose sight of the point of our purpose.  We were created for His purpose (Ephesians 2:10).  Noah's wife submitted to the plan God had for her life (Jeremiah 29:11).

As Easter Sunday rapidly approaches, I pray that we all are truly consecrating ourselves to be more like Christ.  I hope that we are surrendering to God's will for our lives.  I pray that we are practicing submission and obedience to the will of the Lord.  Our connection to Him requires us to live in the full faith of God (PKJ 2014).  God is truly faithful and capable of doing exceedingly and abundantly above all (Ephesians 3:20).  We must trust His will for our lives.


Application

This week we should truly consecrate ourselves to Christ.  The Pastor of our church has asked us to fast at least one day this week in order to acknowledge the sacrifice that was made for us by Christ.  In this time, he has requested that we read God's word, pray, and praise the Lord for His power.  If we hold His precepts, practice obedience to His word and live in His principles, we will definitely see the glory of God.

I am going to make that same request of you this week.  Pick one day and fast for the Lord.  Spend extra time reading His word, sitting quietly to hear from Him, and praise Him.   We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37).

Have a blessed week!

Be blessed,

T. Carter

All bible verses are extracted from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible. YouVersion 2014.

James, Pastor Kevin (2014). No Longer a Prisoner to the Past. New Community Bible Fellowship. Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Nelson, Thomas (1997).  Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible.  Thomas Nelson Publishing.  Nashville, Tennessee

Lesson 3: Noah's Wife - It Is Better to Obey

Hello Everyone,

Hallelujah!!! God's promises are yay and amen!!  He is so faithful!!!  The overwhelming responses given by the effectiveness of the quiet time blessed me.  I pray that we all will continue to make time for God!!!  He longs to commune with us.  Communing with God is an honor in itself.

That was a powerful lesson last week!  I was so severely challenged and blessed by it at the same time. This passed weekend we moved into a new home.  Moving puts stress on any relationship; friendships, family, associates, co-workers, and especially marriage.  It is an event that heightens anxiety and certain pressures within anyone.  I was most challenged in my submissiveness during this process.  It is very easy for me to practice submission in the obvious areas; cooking, cleaning, maintaining our home, allowing my husband to lead.  I am still learning and growing in those quiet areas; silence, meekness, attitude, willingness, accepting my role as a God designed woman, etc.  Realizing how submissive Noah's wife had to be in order to be as supportive as God designed her to be to Noah has impacted my approach towards my own battle with submission.  I am my husband's God designed perfect match and God is in control; not my husband and especially not me.  I cannot profess that God is in control of everything, confess that I trust God and then try to practice disobedience in the mist of any trial or small discomfort.  Studying and preparing for this lesson is definitely evidence of God's perfect timing.  I am challenged and stretched to grow even more, in the area of trusting God's divine order (God, man, woman) and practicing biblical submissiveness over my own perspective of submissiveness.  Submissiveness is not contingent on the other person's behavior.  It is based on your obedience to God.  You are indirectly submitting to the person who has authority over you in that moment.  You are directly submitting to God.  You are binding your flesh and surrendering to your spirit man.  Your true submission is to God.  I thank God for these lessons for they truly bless my life.  Most people would say that the blessing is the new home, which yes, I am very grateful.  However, the true blessing was the opportunity to see myself and have my sin exposed so God could convict me and I could grow in Him.  The more I grow in Christ Jesus, the closer I am to God.  I am a humble servant and grateful that I get to experience these lessons with all of you.

This week we are going to discuss obedience.  When God gave me this lesson, I thought to myself, "Again Lord?!?!?"  We have talked about obedience with almost every woman of the bible that we have discussed so far.  However, it is a definite point of contention when walking with Christ.  As we war with our flesh daily, we are succumbing to disobedience more times than we should (Romans 7:14-17).

We will discuss the wife of Noah and her practice of obedience.

Resource

Genesis 7:13, 16

13 On the very same day Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark.

16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded; and the Lord shut them in

Submit - Yielding to another; refer to another person for decision and/or judgement

Surrender - Agree to forgo the power or possession; relinquish control

obedience - dutifully submissive behavior with respect to another person; being willing

disobedience - a trait of being unwilling; failure to practice obedience

Lesson

I would like us to focus on the definitions listed above.  When an interaction is occurring that requires obedience, better yet, submission, are we conscious of what this really means?

I facilitated a weekly bible study this last week at my church and we discussed the importance of awareness and choice.  In order to really conquer sin daily, we must have an awareness of sin, our sinful nature, and what triggers us to sin.   Additionally, we must be aware of the choice we are making to engage or indulge that sin. This same awareness is necessary when operating in submission and obedience.  We have to make a conscious choice to submit and obey.  You cannot practice obedience without submission which takes awareness and choice.

Noah's wife needed to exhibit all of these qualities in order to support her husband Noah in the biggest decision of his life.  We can only imagine the intense emotion that this situation may have invoked based on the severity of its nature.  What would the reaction be today if a person that has authority over us told us that the world was going to end at God's hand, very shortly and that we need to prepare a place of refuge during this time.   I am curious to know how many of us would submit to that authority and obey.  How many of us would have a willing attitude to build the refuge?

Noah's wife behavior of submission and obedience spanned beyond herself.  It also affected her children and each generation to follow.  Shem, the eldest son of Noah and his wife, went on to lead many blessed nations.  We can conclude that this is because he witnessed the leadership of his father, serving God, and the obedience of his mother, submitting to her husband. A lineage of obedience.

Think of all the times in your life when you chose to be obedient.  When I think of the times that I have chosen to be obedient, God's radiant love shines upon me.  Sometimes it is not immediate, but the rewards are always there.  It seems that we sometimes confuse our expected outcome with God's intended outcome. We are disappointed because things did not follow our plan. However, things always operate according to His plan. His plan gives Him glory, not us. We are here to glorify Him.

As I discussed above, we have a habit of disobedience when we have to submit.  God has called us to submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21).  This requires obedience.  

APPLICATION

As we progress throughout the week, let's take time to practice:

• conscious awareness

• biblical choices

• biblical submission 

• obedience

Take some time to journal about your experiences this week and assess yourself.  Ask God to help you through each task.

Have a blessed week!

Be blessed,

T. Carter

All bible verses are extracted from the Holy Bible King New King James Version.

M-W.com (2013). Merriam-Webster Dictionary Web Version. Retrieved from App Store

Mears, Henrietta (1999). What the Bibles is All About. Regal Publishing House. Ventura, California

Nelson, Thomas (1997). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. Thomas Nelson Publishing. Nashville, Tenessee

Lesson 2: Noah's Wife - The Perfect Match

Hello Everyone,

I pray that everyone is well today.  I hope that you all enjoyed getting to know Noah's wife a little bit last week. I received so many responses about praying the prayer of Psalms 19:14 and how helpful it was.  I try to keep that scripture very close to my heart.  God's word is truly an ever present help.

I recently viewed the newest production of Noah.  I have mixed emotions about the bible being literally translated onto film. I often wonder will the depictions appear accurate according to God's word and the Holy Spirit.  Additionally, I have an appreciation for taking some creative liberties, as I am a creative person myself and a faith based filmmaker.  I enjoyed the film to some degree because it was, at least, entertaining. However, it may have been more effective if the creative licenses were more aligned with the biblical principles that are streamed throughout the bible.  Nevertheless, I did have an appreciation for how Noah's wife was depicted.  For the majority of the film, she was submissive and honored the God divine order of God, man, woman.  She followed Noah and when she had questions she approached him in an honorable and respectful manner.  She was soft and loving, yet strong in her disposition and beliefs. She nurtured her family during one of the most difficult times in the bible.  She did it all while honoring God's divine order.  My hope is that this film will inspire its viewers to read the true story of Noah found in the Holy Bible (Genesis 5:25-9:29)

Today we will discuss Noah's wife in regards to being Noah's perfect match.  God has a purpose and a plan for everyone (Jeremiah 29:11).  We are all chosen, purposefully designed, and perfectly matched according to God's will.  When we choose our own match or become selfish with our God designed mate, that is when things fall apart.  We must trust God.

Resource

Genesis 5:28-29, 32

28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed."
32 And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Lesson

Based on verse 29 of Genesis 5, Noah had a calling on his life.  After Cain and Abel, sin filled the Earth.  Men began to take more than one wife and spread wickedness throughout the land (Genesis 6:5).  There needed to be a restoration of the communion of God and man.  The hope was in Noah.

With such a great expectation of Noah's life, he needed a mate that would suit such a destiny.  God's perfect plan was Noah's wife.  As stated in last week's lesson, her name is never mentioned in the bible.  However, according to Jewish custom in combination with the genealogy of the bible found in Genesis 4:19-24, her name would be Naamah; sister of Tubal-Cain (bibleinfo.com 2014).  However, based on Abrahamic religions, her name would be Emzara.  No one, in current existence, has full knowledge of what her name truly was.  However, God knew because he knew that she was Noah's perfect match (Matthew 10:30).

God was the first matchmaker; when He created woman, He created her to be the perfect mate (DeMoss & Kassian 2012). Therefore, Noah's wife was the perfect mate to Noah; her name is irrelevant.  Sometimes the most prominent presence is exemplified by the nameless faces.  Noah's wife was indeed that.

They survived the flood that covered the earth (Wolgemuth 2013).  How could Noah survive the ridicule during the building of the ark and then the flood without a great help mate given to him by God.  The purpose of woman helping man isn't about exalting the man; the help contributes to the both of them achieving a greater, nobler eternal purpose that is far bigger and more significant than their own existence (DeMoss & Kassian 2012).  Noah needed to repopulate the Earth and bring redemption to man in God's eyes.  He needed a mate suitable for such a journey.

His wife consoled him, giving his hand a squeeze for assurance (Wolgemuth 2013).  Only a God designed mate can generate such a connection and infiltrate the male conscious enough to evoke confidence to press forward on a God designed journey.  Together, they expand the family of God, thus bringing glory to the Father (DeMoss & Kassian 2012).  We are not mated for our own pleasure, we are mated to glorify God.  Nameless, Noah's wife exudes this objective.

Application

This week we will focus on quiet time and meditation.  In order to fulfill our purpose and surrender to God's perfect match for ourselves, we must quiet our spirits and have an ear to listen.  Today, in our current society, we busy ourselves with multitudes of white noise.  We are so engaged with business that we miss the soul purpose of our being.  God has a higher calling for all of us.  We must quiet our minds, surrender our hearts, and seek His face.

I challenge you this week to have some quiet time with God.  Set aside 30 minutes to sit in silence and receive from God.  He is waiting for your undivided attention.

Have a blessed week!

Be blessed,

T. Carter

All scriptures are extracted from the New King James version of the Holy Bible. YouVersion 2014

DeMoss, Nancy Leigh & Kassian, Mary (2012). True Woman 101: Divine Design. Moody Publishers. Chicago, Illinois

Wolgemuth, Barbara & Wolgemuth, Robert (2013).  Couples of the Bible.  Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan