God was grieved at our human wickedness, not angry, grieved. So …
[God] said to Noah: … Make … an ark Gen 6:12-14
… “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just.” Gen 7:1
Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him. Gen 7:5
By faith Noah, warned about what was not yet seen, with reverence built an ark … Hebrews 11:7
see also Gen 6:14-22
Why Noah? How did Noah become able to do “just as the Lord had commanded him”?
As usual, the Catechism provides an explanation.
The family is … the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love … # 2207
… marriage helps to overcome self-absorption,
[overcome] egoism,
[overcome] pursuit of one’s own pleasure, +
and
[marriage helps] to
open oneself to the other,
[open oneself ] to mutual aid and
[open oneself to] self-giving. # 1609
In our marriages, is where we learn love.
Count the husbands and wives in this passage.
… Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of Noah’s sons … entered the ark, Gen 7:13
see also 2 Peter 2:5
4 men and 4 women
In an age when men routinely had several wives, and routinely treated them like slaves, Noah and his three sons each had exactly one wife. In his marriage Noah learned how to love enough to do “just as the Lord had commanded him”.
The flood came. Gen 7:17
Noah and his family and all the creatures on the Ark were saved.
The flood killed everyone else, cleansing the earth. Gen 7:21
The flood receded. Noah came out of the Ark. Noah offered a sacrifice to God when he came out and … Gen 8:20-22
Noah’s offering [was] pleasing to God, … # 2569
Was Noah’s offering pleasing because he had obeyed? No.
Was it pleasing because Noah had worked so hard? No.
Was it pleasing because God needed Noah to build an Ark? No.
Noah’s offering [was] pleasing to God, … because [Noah’s] heart was upright and undivided; # 2569
You and I may never do something huge like build an Ark, but we can give God our hearts upright and undivided. Isn’t it wonderful that what God wants is what we can give?
Blessing Noah, God made a covenant with all living creatures to never again flood the earth Gen 9:8-11
The sign of that covenant? The rainbow.
Gen 9:13