Today’s Scripture is Genesis 5:28-29 

When Lamech was 182, he had a son. Lamech named his son Noah. 

Lamech said, “Noah will comfort us from the pain of our work. The pain is because God has cursed the ground.”

*라멕은 백여든두 살에 아들을 낳았다. 그는 아들의 이름을 노아라고 짓고 말하였다.  “주님께서 저주하신 땅 때문에, 우리가 수고하고 고통을 겪어야 하는데, 이 아들이 우리를 위로할 것이다”

The meaning of the name Noah is “rest.” Lamech saw that the world was getting worse and worse.

People worked and worked, yet all they gained was painful toil. 

The ground had been cursed because of human sin—because of people’s evil thoughts and deeds.

So Lamech prayed, “God, through this son, Noah, please give us rest. Please give us your comfort.”

Noah’s name had a message. Rest and Comfort. And Noah, he lived in a way that reflected the meaning of his name. 

The rest that Noah carried had two meanings.

The first was an invitation to rest in God. It was a crying invitation for people to repent of their sins and return to God.

The invitation to come into the ark that God commanded Noah to build.

Only when you come into the ark will you find true rest and true comfort. But the people refused to come in.

*

The second meaning of his name became clear when Noah became the beginning of a new humanity after the Flood.

Through Noah and his family, God’s creation was restarted.

God’s comfort did not leave them; instead, he encouraged them to fill the earth and cultivate the land as they began their new life.

The ground that had been cursed because of human sin would be blessed again, just as Noah’s father, Lamech, had prayed.

What message are you carrying? Not only the name your parents gave you (and I am pretty sure it has a beautiful meaning),

but also the name that your heavenly Father has given you.

As His followers—His disciples—we carry a message that must be revealed through our actions and deeds to a world that keeps refusing to return to God.

What message do you want your life to carry? Let's write it down on the back of your name tag!