Feb 9–15, 2026
One Righteous Family and a Very Tall Tower
Genesis 6–11; Moses 8: Two Kinds of Pride, One Very Wet Flood
Here's a question: what's the difference between standing firm in your values and just refusing to change because you don't want to?
This week has two stories that both deal with human stubbornness. The outcome in one is devastating. The other is almost funny. And the difference isn't the stubbornness itself—it's the direction of it.
Noah: The Lone Holdout
Noah's generation is described in Genesis 6 as deeply corrupt. "Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). That's everyone around Noah.
Moses 8 adds that Noah preached to these people. For a long time. He called them to repent. And mostly, they didn't listen.
Noah kept building anyway.
Moses 8:27 describes him as "a just man and perfect in his generation"—meaning his character was complete, his intentions were right, his face was toward God even when nobody else's was. Walking with God is described as a continuous, present thing, not a one-time commitment.
When the flood came and the ark was the only place of safety, the people who had laughed at Noah found out what his obedience actually meant.
Here's the harder question: Noah's faithfulness didn't make his life easier. It just made his life right. Sometimes those two things are very different.
The Rainbow Is a Weapon Put Away
After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah. And the sign of that covenant? A rainbow. Genesis 9:13: "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant."
In ancient Hebrew, the word for rainbow and the word for a warrior's bow are the same: qeshet. God hung His weapon in the sky as a sign that this judgment was finished. The bow is up in the sky, pointing away. God is not at war with His creation.
Every time you see a rainbow, that's the picture. God's covenant with the earth. His promise to never again destroy it this way.
Babel: A Different Kind of Pride
Genesis 11. Different era, different people, same problem dressed differently.
Noah's generation refused to follow God. The Babel generation refused to follow His command to scatter and fill the earth. Instead, they clustered, built a city, and decided to make themselves a famous name—"lest we be scattered" (Genesis 11:4).
God's response was to scramble their language. Suddenly nobody could understand anyone else. The tower project collapsed. People scattered—the very thing they were trying to avoid.
Babel is almost a dark comedy. But underneath it is a serious question: when God gives you a direction, and it feels like loss or vulnerability, do you trust it? Or do you build towers to protect yourself from where He's asking you to go?
🎮 What does Moses 8 tell us about Noah's response to his corrupt generation?
🎮 What does it mean that Noah was "perfect in his generation" (Moses 8:27)?
🎮 What is the sign of the covenant God made with Noah after the flood?
🎮 What does the Hebrew word for "rainbow" (*qeshet*) also mean?
🎮 Why were the builders at Babel trying to build a tower?
🎮 What happened when God confused the languages at Babel?
Open Your Come Follow Me Manual
This week's manual asks about being faithful in corrupt situations. Ask yourself: which one am I actually in right now—a situation where I need Noah's patient faithfulness, or one where I'm building a tower to avoid something God has been asking me to step into?