Day 2 -- Genesis 4-7

"Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9b).
After the first disobedience, things went immediately downhill. People swiftly become "more beastly than the beasts." The tragedy of Cain and Abel demonstrates how fallen men and women are now capable of the most monstrous acts of violence and moral irresponsibility. The words of Cain--"Am I my brother's keeper"(4:9)--echo through the sad history of human inhumanity.
Nevertheless--and this is the great nevertheless--inhuman depravity creates a background for human righteousness. Look at these words that God speaks to Cain--"Sin is [indeed] lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it" (4:7).
Sin is always an option for us. It lies in wait for us at every moment of decision. Nevertheless by grace, we can master it. God offers us that moral option--the choice to be righteous. Not perfect. Nothing that we do is ever perfect. But righteous.
God gives fallen us the ability to master our overpowering human tendency to be more beastly than the beasts. And some few people took advantage of that option.
The text says that Enoch made use of that ability to be righteous--he "walked with God" (5:23) and received some sort of special reward. God short-circuited death and "took him," the text says.
Noah also "walked with God" (6:9), and saved his family and the rest of creation from utter destruction. He became the first moral hero. He was raised above the scum by obedience. When God revealed the plan to build the ark and save creation by creating a sort of zoo--and it must have seemed a crazy one--the text says--"Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him" (6:22).
Consider this--Obedience to the command of God is what lifts you and me out of the mire and makes us truly human. It lifts us up, and it pulls our families up with us. The ability to be obedient to God is grace. Grace separates us from the crowd and gives us permission to walk with God--to live in personal relationship with Him--which is what being truly human life is all about.
Remember, in human terms righteousness is always a lonely thing--it connects us to God, but it always separates us from the rest of the world. Yet apart from the righteousness of a few, the world would perish--that is message of the story of Noah.

(A note to daily Bible readers--check http://www.jrsbible.info/bible.htm to find the Bible online in about 25 English versions, plus many other languages.)