Tag: Flood

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The huge life do-over.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Then God said to Noah, “Leave the boat, all of you—you and your wife, and your sons and their wives. Release all the animals—the birds, the livestock, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—so they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth.” So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. And all of the large and small animals and birds came out of the boat, pair by pair. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.” Genesis‬ ‭8‬:‭15‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

From the time the first rain fell to the earth to the time the waters receded enough to have dry ground, took a year. Noah began the journey at 600 years old and now he was 601 years old. Human evil had exponentially exploded over the 1,600+ years since creation.

After Noah had left the boat, he sacrificed some designated animals to the Lord. Had the family gone an entire year without an acknowledgment of their own sin? When Noah prepared and offered that sacrifice, it signaled that he understood the cost and consequences of sin. This pleased God. After a complete re-start of human history, God gives a chilling reality. “The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done,” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8‬:‭21‬. Every inclination, every thought and imagination is bent towards sin – since childhood!

Anyone that can’t see that we are still in a battle, does not understand the depth of our depravity. God constantly gets blamed for both being cruel and overbearing and, at the same time, blamed for not eradicating evil. Like we could have it both ways! What evil, whose evil should God start with? What’s the measurement of too much evil and who is qualified to judge it?

God told us, our choices came with consequences! It’s not just the first couple in the garden. It’s every couple, every person that was banished from the garden today. Noah’s sacrifice was critical to acknowledge that he understood this. God’s people were taught and respected the idea of temporary animal sacrifices as a means of obediently understanding the cost of their own sin. When Jesus became the final and perfect sacrifice for all humankind, it allows us to place our trust, our hope, that He is enough. Not just to cover our sin, but forever eliminate the judgment and justice due for us to pay. The escape from our sin, the guarantee of the biggest life do-over ever, is found, not just in believing in Jesus, but living in Jesus.

Prayer

​Dad,
I often think about what so many people seem to believe about you. Some want to just deny any and every idea of a creator, or a God to answer to. Others, want to pretend they are a god themselves, attempting to get the good life through a plurality of religious-like activities. And still others have declared themselves as your enemy, believing the lie that they can overtake your throne, side with the accuser and win. All of this is an impossible illusion of being in control of our sin and of our own destiny. I am so very thankful for your gracious life do-over found in Jesus. You alone have saved my life here on earth as well as my eternal life yet to come.

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Symbols of promise.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭9‬:‭12‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The complete and total destruction of all creation is a powerful, but risky move. It’s is extremely hard for us, as humans, as created beings, to grasp the full extent of God’s right and ability to do what he wants. What is even more mind-blowing is the fact that God, being PERFECT, precise, right, true and just can both make life and destroy life in complete supremacy, and it is justified!

While on earth, I doubt I will ever understand the mystery of risk God took in creating free-will creatures. Since God is so far above and beyond my thinking, it’s even harder to imagine him obliterating an entire batch of bad characters and sparing just a small fraction of human life as we see with Noah and his immediate family. There are so many questions surrounding the discussion in Genesis 2:1-9. Who were the “Nephilites – Sons of God?” They were mass producing giant warriors! Maybe they were reproducing much faster than the descendants of Adam and Eve? All we know God said he favored Noah and said he was righteous, blameless and walked in close fellowship with God. Noah was not perfect, but his faith in God clearly stood out.

We get past the flood and total destruction of the rest of humanity and we come to the contract, the covenant promise God made with Noah. God loves covenants and absolutely ALWAYS keeps his promises. The symbols of promise are reminders of contracts. These symbols and token reminders move us to memory of the promises made. Our modern world is filled with contracts, NDA’s, Pre-nups and mountains of paperwork stating that both parties are held to KEEP their promise for the contract to be reliable and dependable. Normally, when one of the parties in the contract fail to keep the promise made, the contract becomes null and void. However, there are lots of instances where one party might keep the promise even when the other breaks from the agreement. You sign a written contract when borrowing money or purchasing something of value. When you fail to make a payment, you break the contract and the bank or lender can take back the item in question. That may be a car, house, land or anything of worth. A wedding ring is a powerful symbol of promise, a contract or covenant – not with the state but with God and each other. Why would the government care if a couple stays together or not? The system does not care. God cares, people care.

God gives Noah the most famous, sustainable symbol humans have ever known – a rainbow in the sky. And it comes in its amazingly beautiful array of color when sunshine strikes water molecules sustained in the air. Oh sure, it can scientifically be explained, but science (physical explanations of natural phenomenon) is a recent discovery that didn’t happen in ancient times. The rainbow precedes our understanding of modern scientific explanations! The rainbow shows up in ancient texts! Oh, we’re so smart to be able to explain the mystery now, but we still can’t explain why it’s so amazing. How awful to reduce such extravagance down to a evolutionary anomaly that is treated as nonsensical coincidence!

The rainbow symbol has been used and abused to represent something it was never intended to represent. When the symbol is separated from the promise, it becomes worthless to help us remember what it is for. The rainbow still occurs as a reminder, but now it’s lost luster and beauty. Search it for yourself. What does the rainbow symbolize? Here’s the top result: “Rainbows symbolize good luck, wellness, happiness, and health, [and] could indicate a positive shift in vibration and positive energy.” What a nonsensical pile of 💩. Next time you see a rainbow, remember it’s a promise that God keeps his word! He didn’t flood the whole earth again. However, next time it will be another “natural” phenomenon… FIRE.

Prayer

Dad,
First of all, I love rainbows! Great job on that. However, I have seen your consistent love and grace to keep your promises in many more tangible ways in my life and in others. You are THE promise keeper! And, I am grateful that you are trustworthy.