"And Noah began to be a farmer and he planted a vineyard. (21) Then he drank of the wine and was drunk and became uncovered in his tent." Genesis 9:20-21. NKJV
After all the mighty work that Noah had performed for God, the last thing you would have thought, that he would go and blow it. But blow it he did. It just goes to show, that no matter how great a work we do for God, we are still susceptible to sin and that sin can lead us to do things we never thought we'd do. Here Noah, after the work of the ark, has settled down and started farming. With this, he has constructed a vineyard and thus, his 'brew your own days' have begun. Noah either didn't know the strength of the alcohol that he had made, or he had begun to enjoy it and decided to go a little further each time. This particular day, Noah has become so intoxicated that he has passed out. His son Ham goes in and finds his father crashed out and naked on his bed. From there, whatever happened we don't know. What we do know is that he went out and told his two brothers about this. Shem and Japheth took a garment with them and walking in backwards, covered their father's shame. Later 'Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done.' (9:24) He then cursed Canaan, who was Ham's son. Why would he do this? David Guzik comes up with a couple of suggestions:
'It may be Noah was abused sexually by one of his sons or relatives. (Ham?) Other's think Ham's only sin here was in seeing Noah's drunken, uncovered state, and that he made fun of him, mocking him as a father and as a man of God. The Hebrew script literally says that Ham,"told with delight", what he saw in his father's tent. He determined to mock his father and was undermining his authority as a man of God. As Noah knew what his younger son had done to him, this seems to indicate that whatever happened to Noah, it was more than one of his sons or grandsons seeing his nudity. This explains the strength of the curse.
David Guzik Enduring Word
Whatever happened that day to Noah, was of his own making. He took his eyes off the Lord and took an evening off. This all goes to prove what I wrote the other day, about the Christian Walk. We don't step from Egypt to the Throne of God. There's a wilderness in between and that contains giants, and that's where the problems begin. We have to watch every step we take. We can't afford to take time off from our faith. Relax yes, but not at the risk of leaving Jesus out of the equation. He needs to have the central part of our lives - every moment, of every day.
Sadly, we will blow it at times. As careful as we may be, there will be times when we drop our guard; we're human beings. However, if we train ourselves to avoid certain areas that we know are our weaknesses, we will be better placed. We all have weaknesses, and we know where we can let ourselves down. So, avoid them. It would be unwise for someone with a major drink-related problem to frequent a bar. There would be too many temptations. In the same manner, we too should avoid the areas that we know are our weakest. It just makes sense.
Thank goodness, we have Jesus who we can turn to and either ask for help, in our time of need, or confess that we have blown it and receive forgiveness. Where would we be without Him?
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
