Genesis 9:21 (NLT)
One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent.
When most of us think of biblical characters, we think they are mentioned because of the stellar, upstanding lives they lived. However, as you lean in a little closer, you begin to realize they these were everyday men with everyday issues who were called to do extraordinary things.
For example, God came to Noah and said He would send rain to destroy the Earth. What made this proclamation so unusual was that man had never yet seen rain fall from the sky. The Earth had only been watered by the morning dew. This interesting fact is why Noah pleaded with the people for 120 years and received no positive response—he was talking about something that had never occurred or been seen in the history of the Earth. Thus, the people could not even imagine it.
Noah, along with his sons, labored to build a boat despite their own doubts. One hundred and twenty years is a long time to wait and a long time to be ridiculed. As the animals started to enter the boat, Noah and his family began to see the hand of God moving toward His spoken purpose. When the angel shut the door and seven days later the rain began to fall, I am certain they were more than relieved that they had listened.
Even though we owe our lives to the obedience of this one man, we still recognize that Noah had a drinking problem. No sooner had they put down stakes than Noah was planting a vineyard and making wine. When people get drunk, they often end up, like Noah, exposing their shame, cursing those they love, and creating a forever divide in their families. Yet God still called Noah a righteous man.
