Noah!

Genesis 5:28 "When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief  from our work and from the painful toil of our hands." Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died. After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 6:8;7:6  "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth."

     Lord, in reading through the first chapters of Genesis this morning, You brought something to light to me I had never seen before.  You did not give me an analytical mind, and I am not by nature a detail person, so through no fault of Yours, I missed this before.  In the genealogy in Genesis that lists all of the fathers and their ages before they started their families, Noah was the oldest before having children!  Some were in their 60s and 70s, bit most were between 100 and 187 years old.  Noah was 500!
      Lamech, Noah's father, was 182 years old when Noah was born and lived 515 years after, and then Your word says, "and then he died."  That means Lamech was 682 years old before Noah's boys were born and lived 95 years after that.  This boils down to  Lamech did not die in the flood!  He died  five years before that.  As much as it might have hurt Noah to experience the death of his father, how much more so would it have grieved him to have him drown in the flood while he and his family escaped harm.
      Your Word says that after Noah was born, more sons and daughters were born to Lamech.  So all of Noah's brothers, sisters, their children, grand children, and great grandchildren were all drowned in the flood!  How very sad that they ALL followed the violence of the world at that time and did not listen to their brother.
      I wonder, Lord, if they were outside the arc trying to have Noah let them in when the rains started to come and they realized he had been telling them the truth all along.  Did they ridicule him for building a boat when it had never rained before?  Did they even live in the same area he did?  Was he ever able to tell them of the coming disaster and plead with them to come to You?  How can one not grieve with the knowledge that all of your extended family are being drowned; falling under the righteous judgement of  Holy God and will forever be banished from His sight?  I wonder if it was out of jealousy they rebelled, or because Lamech had said, "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief  from our work and from the painful toil of our hands."and they were still toiling without relief.
      Lord, I know there will be many "Noahs" on the day of your return when You come to take Your righteous ones home to be with You for Eternity in Heaven and all others will be left to suffer through the Tribulation.  In Your mercy, however, there will be no grief for us, as You will wipe away all tears.  Lord, I beg of You to open the eyes and ears of all family members to the truth of Your Word, so will not be deceived by the Enemy that their works and man's wisdom will win Your favor, but is only by the blood of Jesus shed for them paying the wages for our sins that will save them!