#14: A New Beginning

Genesis 8:16-22

Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”

So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 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.

          “As long as the earth endures,

         seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

         summer and winter, day and night

         will never cease.”

Comments

After the destruction of the flood, the world was given a new beginning. God’s command that all living creatures “multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number” parallels much of the language of creation.

There was, however, one big difference: this new beginning had none of the innocence of the Garden of Eden. God was starting over with full recognition that “every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.”

Reflections

God’s promise to Noah was that “never again will I destroy all living creatures.” God did not, however, promise to prevent life on earth from being destroyed through nuclear war, pollution, biological weapons, global warming or something else of human origin. Do you think such things are preventable?

According to Genesis 6:9, Noah was righteous and blameless even though his heart, like all humans, was inclined to evil as described in Genesis 8:21. Do you ever try to excuse your actions by thinking, “I couldn’t help myself; I’m only human” when you’ve done wrong?

Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who blesses us with the possibility of a new beginning even though our hearts are inclined to evil from childhood.

#13: Sorrow and Regret

Genesis 6:5-8

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Comments

Just as thorns and thistles proliferated in the ground from which Adam was to raise his food, so did wickedness and evil flourish in the generations that followed Adam and Eve.

God’s reaction to this was not one of outrage, but of sorrow. The description of God’s heart as being “deeply troubled” should not be understood in the context of anger. The New Living Translation makes this clear by saying that the proliferation of evil in the world God had created “broke his heart.”

Like a surgeon choosing to remove a cancerous tumor before it destroyed everything, God determined to wipe out all life from the face of the earth. This could have simply been the end, but God chose instead to have a new beginning. This “do-over” would not involve a new creation and a second Garden of Eden, but the salvation of one man’s family and a representative sample of all the animals.

Reflections

God’s regret over having created the world implies that God had not known from the beginning how far human wickedness might go. This is an important passage for understanding the limits of God’s sovereignty and the extent of human free will. Do you find such an understanding of God to be comforting or disturbing?

God did not choose to remain distant and removed from creation, but rather to invest in it so greatly that its demise brought great sorrow. What in our world today is likely a source of similar grief and sorrow for God? Are there attitudes and behaviors in your own life that might do the same?

Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who loves us so deeply as to grieve the evil that exists among us and within us.

#12: The Wrath of Cain

Genesis 4:2-15

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

Comments

Genesis gives no indication why God was pleased with Abel’s offering, but not with Cain’s. The events that follow, however, certainly suggest that Cain’s offering might well not have been from the right motivation.

This story is another example of how God’s wrath and God’s tender mercy can both be expressed in the same event. Notice the objects of God’s concern:

•    Abel, the innocent victim
•    The ground, polluted by the shedding of innocent blood
•    Cain, the son who could not control his anger

By all rights, Cain’s life should have been forfeited for the murder of his brother. God, however, extended mercy, going so far as to place his protection on Cain in his cursed wanderings.

Reflection

To what extent do we seek justice for innocent victims? To what extent do we show mercy to those who are guilty? 

Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who grieves the shedding of innocent blood and shows mercy even to those who have done something terrible.

#11: Tender Mercy

Genesis 3:6-7

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Comments

Genesis 3 goes on to tell us that, after eating the forbidden fruit, it was impossible for Adam and Eve to hide what they had done. God confronted them with their disobedience and each sought to place blame elsewhere: Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. Such pitiful excuses could not keep them from experiencing the consequences of what they had done:

• Eve would bear children, but only with great pain, and the intimacy she would want with her husband would not come easily either
• Adam would grow food, but only with great hardship as the ground itself would be cursed with thorns and thistles
• Both Adam and Eve would be banished from Eden, cast out into the wilderness

It would be easy to read this entire story as an example of God’s wrath poured out upon sinful humanity, but it is also possible to see God grieving the loss of human innocence and simply explaining the consequences of what they have done.

In any case, Genesis 3:21 shows the tender mercy of God in spite of all that Adam and Eve have done. Realizing that the fig leaves Adam and Eve had sewn together to cover themselves were entirely inadequate for the harsh world they were about to enter, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”  This is hardly the act of an angry God!

Reflection

When you read the story of Adam and Eve, do you see an angry God who has been disobeyed or a grieving God who has been disappointed?

Have there been times in your life when, having made a bad choice, you experienced the tender mercy of God as things turned out better than you deserved?

Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who shows us tender mercy even in the midst of our foolish choices.

#10: Freedom

Genesis 2:15-17

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Comments

Of the many gifts that we have been given by being created in the image of God, surely none is greater than the gift of our freedom.

To be free means to be able to make choices, and that means we have a variety of options. We can choose what to eat, what to wear, where to work, who to marry and a multitude of other things.

This freedom to choose also means we have the ability to consider these many options, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each. We can anticipate the outcome of our choices, remembering the past and imagining the future.

The alternative to such freedom would be something like the androids in the Terminator movies. They had been programmed with a single objective: kill John Connor. They had freedom to choose how and when this would be done, but they were unable to follow any path that did not bring them closer to their objective.

God created us to love and obey him, but did not program us in such a way that we would have no other choice. How sad that we so rarely choose to use our freedom to do the very thing we were created to do.

Reflections

You have had a lifetime of making choices. What are some of the best and worst ones you have made?

How well have you considered the consequences of your actions before making these choices? Who or what influenced you most as you were choosing?

Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who gives us freedom to choose whether or not to love and obey you.

#9: A Day of Rest

Genesis 2:1-3

 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Comments

It is hard to imagine that God was so exhausted from the act of creation that it was necessary to take a day off. In fact, Genesis says nothing about that; it simply says God rested from his work and blessed the day by doing so.

Each day of creation ended with a summary: “and God saw that it was good.” The sixth day’s summary went a bit further: “and God saw that it was very good.” Finally, the seventh day allowed time for God to consider and appreciate all that had been done in creation.

The pattern for humans was a bit different. Created on the sixth day, we were given the job of taking care of the created world. Then we were given a day off to get ready for our new responsibilities. What an example of God’s love and care!

Reflections

Have you ever had a boss who told you to be sure to take time off in order to avoid burnout? Do you tend to work harder for bosses who treat you well than for those who are demanding and inconsiderate?

The Sabbath was given to prepare for work, not to recover from it. Do you find yourself in a pattern of working until you are exhausted and never quite catching up? Do you need to discover a new rhythm for your life?

The Sabbath was also to be a day of sacred assembly as God’s people gathered together to remember and celebrate what God had done. Do you express your love for God by including such awareness and thanksgiving within your weekly schedule?

Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who gives us every week a day to rest and remember.

#8: Vegetarians

Genesis 1:28-31

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Comments

The Hebrew words translated as “subdue” and “rule over” are not nearly as dominant as most translations suggest. One version of the Bible, The Message, translates these words as “take charge” and “be responsible for.” I think that captures the intent a bit better.

Perhaps what is most notable about this passage from Genesis is that it describes a world in which humans and all other creatures were vegetarians, and concludes by saying that such a world was very good.

Science pictures a very different world with “nature red in tooth and claw,” a world in which only the strong survive by killing (and often eating) the weaker.

The worldview of science is essentially competitive: in order for someone to win, someone else has to lose. Within such a world, fear is the norm.

The worldview of faith is essentially complementarian: if we care for one another, we all come out ahead in the end. Within such a world, love is the norm.

Science may offer a better description of our world as it is, but faith offers a picture of the world as God wants it to be in the “already but not yet” of God’s kingdom.

Reflections

How competitive are you? Must you win at everything you do and at all costs? How well do you treat those against whom you compete?

There is no better way to express your love for God than to care for those who are weaker rather than seeking to dominate them. What could you do today to love God in this way?

Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who created a world in which peace would be a way of life.