Friday, November 25, 2016
The Lord observed
the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they
thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was
sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said,
“I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all
the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground,
and even the birds of the sky. I am
sorry I ever made them.” But Noah found favor with the Lord. Genesis 6:5-8(NLT)
I’m always thankful for
Thanksgiving. The atmosphere of family
gatherings and a pause from the rat race to catch up with loved ones and take intentional
moments to offer thanks to God for blessings…well, it just seems to put me in a
good frame of mind.
Of late that frame has had
some of the shine rubbed off its edges.
I have been besieged with an inbox full of Black Friday deals.
Amazon, Cokesbury, Macys, Sears, J.C.Penney, and anyone who ever got my
email address want to offer me pre-Black Friday discounts and special, big-time-you-are-special-to-us-our-personal-friend-and-lifelong-buddy,
Mr. R. Brownworth, customer #988979734572…shipping and handling separate, of
course!
I now know how God felt when
he decided to wipe humans off the face of the earth; enough is enough!
But I cannot read Genesis 6
without being caught up by that hopeful tag line: But
Noah found favor with the Lord.
Noah’s day was not all that
different from our Black Friday mentality.
The mood of the day was party, party, and…well, party! But Noah kept his focus on the calling God
had laid on his life. Frankly that’s
hard to do when the noise of a culture says:
Turn up the volume, this party’s
just getting started! The focus
of Noah’s life was to get ready for the event that would be a new beginning for
the human race.
And so was the other Friday – Good Friday.
If ever there was a moment
of new beginning, the moment that itinerant insurrectionist of love spoke while
hanging on a cross, Father, forgive
them, they don’t know what they’re doing…it opened the flood gates of
grace.
It’s a thin line between
Black Friday and Good Friday.
On Black Friday the store floodgates open at Midnight and
it’s all heels and elbows running like would-be matadors ahead of the bulls at Pamplona,
crashing through the Apple Store entrance to snatch up the merchandise monster’s
grace discounts.
On Good Friday the world stood silent while God died.
It’s somewhat schizophrenic
to gather on Thursday, offer humble prayers of Thanksgiving around the table of
God’s bountiful blessings, and then spend the afternoon watching football while
searching your I-Phone for the best midnight specials.
But that is the picture of
Noah’s day and our day; it is the picture of humans-in-need-of-forgiveness-day! It’s our human-race family picture.
It is the picture of who we
are…walking a thin line between the different Fridays.
For You Today
I saw a report on the news of
a survey that asked if you were going to participate in the wee-hours shopping
craze known as Black Friday. The report predicted
a sharp decrease this year.
I had two immediate thoughts:
Wall Street must be shaking in their
boots, and perhaps God has more Noah-like people than I ever imagined.
Maybe Black Friday will turn out to
be a Good Friday.
NOTES
[i]
Title image: By
Powhusku from Laramie, WY, via Wikimedia
Commons & By Ambrozd (Own work), via Wikimedia
Commons
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