The Days of Noah

Friday, November 25, 2022

Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them.  The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives.  Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh.  In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”  In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.  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.” ⁸ But Noah found favor with the Lord.  This is the account of Noah and his family.  Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.   Genesis 6:1-9

I can’t remember when, or who said it, but it was the description of a platypus being …the result of a beaver-duck-osaurous being the assembled result of the committee from Hell.  As memory serves, it may have been at a committee meeting from a church (long-ago) that shall remain anonymous!

The days in which Noah lived, where everyone did what they wanted, not regarding the lives of others, with the result being chaos of the darkest nature, are pictured in Scripture as that which broke God’s heart; it was anything but what the Lord had designed.  If you compare it to the peaceful, gentle, and beautiful setting described as Eden (before sin entered the picture), you can understand why God was so upset! 

Many years ago, when our children were still in diapers, one of them climbed out of the crib during the night and found the full container of baby powder.  In the morning when we went into the nursery the container was no longer full.  But every crack, crevice, nook, and cranny of everything else in the room had baby powder to spare! 

I compare my feeling on that morning to the events of Noah’s days, and how God must’ve felt about his children messing up the environment.  In my mind’s imaginative eye, I can see God turning on his TV to the Jerry Springer Show, or some modern reality series where the woman finds out her man’s been cheating on her with her best friend’s husband, and they were planning to divorce, elope, and adopt a platypus.  No church committee can match that, except, perhaps the committee in charge of planning an orderly and dignified gay pride parade! 

If, in light of the previous descriptions, there is any wonder left in your mind about why God decided to start-over, give me a call…I’ll paint you a picture.

For You Today  

The world news program you watch today (maybe even your local news) will be filled with 95% of the anger, hatred, killing, disaster, and whatever other horrible happenings form the core of 21^st century culture.  We are living in the days of Noah.  Our prayer should always start (and end) with:  Come, Lord Jesus!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       When It Hurts So Much   and   The Thin Line Between Black Friday and Good Friday

This devotional memoir first appeared on Rocky Road Devotions entitled Thanks Dad! August 11, 2016 (updated this date)

Images:  Title Pixabay.com and WikiCommons without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

In Search of a Rainbow

 

Thursday, March 11, 2021

Then God told Noah and his sons, “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth.  Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you.  Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”  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.  When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.”  Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”  Genesis 9:8-17

These promises of God’s to Noah and his descendants are always a welcome read after the horrors of the previous chapter’s judgment.  The whole earth is engulfed in a tsunami of God’s wrath, and every living creature (except those on the ark) is destroyed.  A rainbow of hope is more than a pleasant sight, it’s restoration of life and a reason to go on. 

Noah and family spent a year in a floating wildlife park, waiting for the waters to dry up.  We’ve been waiting that long in Coronavirus-watch-mode, and, frankly, it’s been just as dark, smelly, and frightening.   

During this time we have all been waiting for the rainbow to appear.  It dawned on me that I’m beginning to identify with old Noah as he sent out birds from the ark, looking for land.  I watch the news each day eagerly anticipating news of a breakthrough, a super-vaccine, or some immunity uncovered in a gene.  And each day is a little more disappointment heaped on the pile of floodwaters of (my grandsons would call them “Rona-waters”).  No land in sight; skies still gloomy.

Enter the God who precipitated the flood, and now delivers the dry land with a promise that the worst is over.  The sight is awesome, rainbows of promise bursting through the sky like a new day’s glory, and there is, once-again, hope.  This is a rainbow of which Dorothy, the tin man, scarecrow, and cowardly lion could never imagine.  For Noah and his tribe of 7, this wasn’t Oz, it was Eden returned!

Is this not the ending for which we all long, to have a new beginning, and a new outlook?  It’s three-parts joy and one-part nervous anticipation of a new day’s challenges.  What will after-the-storm bring to this world?  Will we begin to live-into the covenant as was offered to Noah?  Will we be different than the generation Noah left behind at the dock?  They were a sorrowful stench in the nostrils of Heaven.  They found no faith, even with righteous Noah preaching the message of coming judgment – for 100 years. 

Our world has had a greater witness than Noah’s.  We’ve had the prophets of old, Micah, Jonah, Isaiah, and many more.  We’ve had the forerunner, John the Baptist, telling us to prepare.  We had the loving ministry and word of The Incarnate Word of God, witness of the cross, and two-thousand years of the church’s testimony. 

And our world hears little of it.  Sometimes the church barely acknowledges it.

And yet, it’s all part of God’s holy plan, all evidence of the coming fulfillment of prophecy, and the sovereignty of Heaven’s will.  There is coming a time (and could it be soon?), when all nature will testify to the glory of God, His plan to wipe away every tear, put death to death, and retire the idea of time.  And His judgment, separating the sheep from the goats, darkness of night’s ignorance from the light of His glory, and establishing the eternal Kingdom of holiness and joy will be complete…the final splash of color in a rainbow of promise.

For You Today

Being on the right-side of history is an easy call to see.  It is Christ, the hope of glory, who calls you into this search for a rainbow of hope…and it is Christ who extends his loving hand for you to step up into the ark of His covenant.  It’s more than just shelter in the storm, it’s eternity in His presence!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

Let There Be...

 

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.  Genesis 1:1-2
By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.  Hebrews 11:3

I can’t remember when I first heard it, but the old sermon illustration about the creation and God’s powerful hand has stuck in my mind for decades.  It is about an old-time country preacher attempting to tell his flock about what God did to bring about everything we can see.  Having stood with Bible opened to the first chapter of Genesis he read the first two verses of Scripture, and completed his sermon in three short sentences:

In da’ beginnin’ they weren’t nuthin’.

An’ God, He reached out his’n hand, an’ cotched him a bit o’ da’ nuthin.

An’ wit da’ bit o’ nuthin’ God made somethin’…ever’thin’!

I fail to see how you can improve on that kind of preaching.

There are certain Scripture verses that stand out in my mind as formative for sound Christian doctrine of how, and why God created the universe.  These not only answer the darkness of our beginnings, but the purpose for why we exist.

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.  He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.  He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.  Everything was created through him and for him.  He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Colossians 1:15-17

In the beginning the Word already existed.  The Word was with God, and the Word was God….So the Word became human and made his home among us.  He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.  John 1:1, 14

The debate on how the universe started, and how it came to be the kind of place it is, extends back generations…all of them.  The debate began in the Garden of Eden when the serpent cast doubt in Eve’s mind about whether God really said to leave the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil alone.  That question got to Eve.  She tried to defend God and said that the Lord had said to not even touch it.  This was going beyond what God had told them; God told them that in the day they ate of that tree’s fruit they would die.  With one simple question Satan muddied the waters of God’s clear teaching for humans on living a life of faith in God’s way.  And we have been stirring that mudhole ever since![1]

For Adam and Eve, and for every descendant of theirs, the whole issue has been one of faith.  We humans have a hard time taking things on faith, believing what we have not seen.  Yet, with a God whom no living person has ever seen, this is the chief requirement – that we take God’s word for our marching orders.  And, despite how small and insignificant each of us might appear, compared to, let’s say, the universe, taking God’s existence, sovereignty, and plans for us on faith is, to put it softly, putting every egg we have in this faith basket. 

And therefore we call it a leap of faith.  Believing in God is a choice which He has given us as one of those eggs in our basket.  You either believe-in, trust-in, and rely-on God…or you don’t.  The choice is entirely up to us.

For You Today

If you’ve never taken that “faith-leap” what you’ve been sensing as the missing piece in your life’s puzzle is the assurance that there is God, and He’s good, and He loves you.  That’s what’s on the other side of that nervous step of letting-go, and letting-God.  Today can be that one pivotal moment in your life. 

Trust in God.  Choose to place your faith in God’s only Son who died in your place.  He created you, and everything you can see, and everything beyond your sight.  Trust that he knows your every need.  You’ll find He’s waiting for you with open arms.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

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[1] Read this account in Genesis 3:1-13

Wrong Way - Right Way - MY WAY

 

Friday, December 18, 2020

For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus:  “You are my Son.  Today I have become your Father.”  God also said, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.”  And when he brought his supreme Son into the world, God said, “Let all of God’s angels worship him.”  Regarding the angels, he says, “He sends his angels like the winds, his servants like flames of fire.”  But to the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.  You rule with a scepter of justice.  You love justice and hate evil.  Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.”  He also says to the Son, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.  They will perish, but you remain forever.  They will wear out like old clothing.  You will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing.  But you are always the same; you will live forever.”  And God never said to any of the angels, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”  Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.  Hebrews 1:5-14

There is an orderliness to the universe as surely as you put the ice cream on top of the pie, as opposed to the other way around.  Scripture tells us accordingly that we humans are created just a little lower than the angels.  God’s Word also informs us that order includes Jesus as being co-equal with Father God, and the Spirit.  So, the order is God, three-in-one, angels, humanity, and the rest of the creation.  There is a sovereignty that is unquestioned in Scripture (as well as creation; what storm has ever just ceased to rage, just because a man, woman, or mosquito told it to hush?).  And, in that order, God has seen fit, or proper, to allow us a measure of autonomy, free will to make decisions about our existence and relationships.  From the account of Adam and Eve we learn the wrong use of that autonomy, and the resultant effect it has on the quality of our existence, foremost in importance, our relationship to He who is author of time, space, and life, eternal God.

The dictionary definition of autonomy is self-directing freedom and especially moral independence.  Freedom is a dangerous commodity; it implies no restraint.  When granted, it places incredible power for good or evil at the hand of the free agent.  Moral independence is a mixed bag; we are free to explore and choose how we will act towards the creation, including our fellow human beings, and whether we will acknowledge, by our obedience, the Sovereign benevolence of God. 

There is an old sermon illustration of the wise sage sitting atop a mountain being approached by a young man with a question.  The question for the sage is youthful arrogance that attempts to unmask the foolishness he supposes accompanies one who sits on a mountaintop, when he could be down in the city partying.  The young man extends two hands, cupped together, and asks the sage,  I am holding a little bird in these two hands; you cannot see this tiny bird, but tell me, is it alive or dead?  Sizing up the challenge, the sage replies, as you will, my son; as you will.

For You Today

The privilege of a measure of autonomy God has granted to each of us also carries a responsibility to choose well.  The owner’s manual, Scripture, is the place to understand what an appropriate response to that privilege is…not what our friends think, or culture has declared.  When you get your advice for living, it’s wise to start at the top of the food chain, not third in line.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title image, Pixabay.com and    W   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on God’s Sovereignty see:  How Was Your Weekend? and God Sovereign – Part 5