Destroyed

 

Friday, May 15, 2020

Genesis 7:1-5, 17-24

When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous.  Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others.  Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood.  Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”  So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him.

For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth.  As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface.  Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, rising more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks.  All the living things on earth died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people.  Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died.  God wiped out every living thing on the earth—people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and the birds of the sky.  All were destroyed. The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat.  And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.

There are plenty of disasters from which to choose an image:

·       Wildfires in California destroying subdivisions and memories

·       Tsunamis in Indonesia decimating coastline life

·       Terrorist attacks and the incredible stench of death’s aftermath

·       People standing dazed in the rubble after a tornado

Noah is the poster child for disaster.  Yet, the magnitude of the destruction of that global flood is largely contained in just two paragraphs; essentially it boils down to:  God said he’d wipe the earth clean, and it was so. 

Just like the account of creation, God said – and there was!

This morning, when I went to the computer to post today’s devotion, I found the tech version of Noah’s world; everything was gone.  The physical computer machine was there, looking all innocent and 21^st century put-together, like the Earth after the flood.  But, when I booted up the criminal, all my files were under the deepest blue sea.  Here last night; gone this morning.  What now?  I felt the electronic equivalent of being cut-off from the past 40 years of ministry records, sermons, correspondence, bills, and (oh, my) FACEBOOK. 

I spent the next hour muddled in confusion about what to do next and recriminations over not being more diligent with backing up my files; I also prayed fervently…Oh, LORD, if you’ll just give me back my files I’ll be good….

I’m still not entirely sure what happened, but one word popped into my technologically-challenged brain – RESTART.  So, I did, and voilà, my files were back, and now I’m writing the next devotion. 

Noah wasn’t so lucky.  Or, was he?

There are two hinges to consider here:

·       Hinge #1.  God said He was going to do a new thing

·       Hinge #2.  God did it.

God told Noah to get in the boat, and then God closed the door on the previous chapter.  Then God opened a new chapter for the righteous man and his family.  This begs the question that is frequently my cling-to thought whenever it seems my world might fall apart (or be flooded over to 22 feet above the mountaintops):

What could be better than being in the center of God’s will?

Even when He decides it’s time for a restart?

For You Today

Our new normal after the virus flood is (at this moment) just a foreboding.  I’m not sure I’ve seen any pairs of animals gathering by twos…but, stay tuned, you never know what God is up to; our only certainty is the cross and an empty tomb.  Everything else is like what Noah left behind.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on “Flood Recovery in Genesis see “After the Storm” Part 1 and  Part 2

God - With a Broken Heart

 

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Genesis 6:5-8

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.

Whenever I hear about Noah, the talk usually is about the ark, which, by the way, was a little smaller than the WalMart Supercenter in town, tripple-decker, with stalls and lots of food to last a year.  Or the talk is about how the animals even fit in that floating WalMart.  Or it might start to get theologically antagonistic, laughing over the idea of a 500 year old man without even a backhoe, or nail-gun, building a boat bigger than a football field, or complaining that God is always too harsh with that judgment thing.

It’s odd how we always want the discussion to either not take place at all, or focus on some nitpicking details that miss, or blur, the main point altogether.  Which begs the question:  what’s the main point of Noah’s building project?

That IS the main point – it wasn’t Noah’s project; it was God’s project, and it came out of a broken heart.  There are two main thought threads that wind through every Bible passage:  God’s love, and humanity’s inability to grasp, or accept God’s love.

From the beginning of Scripture we see that God created humans, gave them the gifts of a perfect environment, and the presence of God as friend, the purpose of which was that God’s love always wants to bless.  God’s greatest desire is fellowship with His creation…us! 

When sin entered the picture God forgave the human children, but we see the hideous side of sin, in that, a perfect God, loving perfectly, will not un-ring our bell of treachery.  When we betray the trust of living God’s way there are consequences.  From this page of Scripture there’s no mistaking that the consequences begin with God’s broken heart. 

Another question begs answering: 

If God’s heart is broken, why does he default to judgment and destroying all the animals and every human, except Noah’s family?

You might as well ask “what is the meaning of life…in 25 words or less, please”. 

The short answer has to do (as everything else in Scripture) with the love of God.  The answer is the same we see in a loving mother or father wanting to save his child from a mistake that will cripple his future.  When I was a teenage boy I knew who to ask for permission.  Dad was stern; Mom was soft…I always chose Mom when the activity I wanted was questionable.  I knew if I asked long enough, and with enough whine in my voice, she would ultimately get frustrated and say:  do what you want!  Mom knew I was setting myself up for disappointment with my wrong choices, but there is that free will thing.  And there is no teacher like experience.

God’s flood was more than a display of His sovereign will and power; it was the reaffirmation of the nature and character of God, Who is holy…way beyond our comprehension.  Humankind’s downward spiral, into the kind of moral pit we see in our day, demanded response.  And, despite the pain of holy God’s broken heart, his judgment fell.  It fell all around that WalMart-sized boat, but the love of God kept the storm’s fury outside, redeeming the servants of God inside.

For You Today

God always prefers blessing rather than judgment.  But His gift of free will comes with the reality that choices have consequences.  Really bad choices have really bad consequences, even though it breaks God’s heart. 

In just the same, but opposite way, the really good choice of obeying God has consequence as well; you participate in the gladdening of Father God’s heart. 

And what true child doesn’t want that?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Genesis 6 see Noah's Sermon

The Promise Over the Power

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Tuesday, July 2, 2019

We thank you, O God!  We give thanks because you are near.  People everywhere tell of your wonderful deeds.  God says, “At the time I have planned, I will bring justice against the wicked.  When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps its foundations firm.    Interlude 

“I warned the proud, ‘Stop your boasting!’  I told the wicked, ‘Don’t raise your fists!  Don’t raise your fists in defiance at the heavens or speak with such arrogance.’”  For no one on earth—from east or west, or even from the wilderness—should raise a defiant fist.  It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall.  For the Lord holds a cup in his hand that is full of foaming wine mixed with spices.  He pours out the wine in judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs.  But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.  For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly.”  Psalm 75:1-10

Twice in my life I have stood near the great Niagara and Horseshoe Falls at the New York/Canada border.  The first time, as a young boy, when Mom and Dad took my brother and me to see this fantastic place, the sense of overwhelming power, enforced by the roaring river crashing over the precipice, thundering its way to the rocks below just shut my mouth altogether.  It is stunning to take-in the ominous – almost eerie – sight and sounds.  There is something quite holy about that kind of brute dynamism. 

The second time, as a young family man, I took my children to see what I had seen.  This time I was more prepared to take it in; I could see more.  I could take-in the facts of man harnessing the awesome power God placed in the movement of his water over the falls.  I could understand the caution of the captain of the Maid-of-the-Mist on the river below, carrying her passengers draped in raincoats close (but not too close) to where that water crashed to the earth after a 167-foot drop from above.  And I could see the gentle misty spray rising from the rocks below, with the sun shining through that haze to form a perfect rainbow above and alongside the falls.  I could make the connection of that rainbow with God’s promise to Noah, that God’s judgment would never-again come by a worldwide flood. 

The fact that the Creator of all we see holds such places of incomparable strength and power as one of us might hold a feather, sparks the imagination to places unknown when it comes to the depth and breadth of His powerful will.  If JHWH created the universe with just the words let there be…what more has he done? (And what, if it pleased Him, might He undo?).   

Dare we even say it?  Reverence for Almighty God, and attention to His word and will, are more than the constraint of His law on our lives, it is the only sensible thing we created creatures can do.  And yet some people, (perhaps more people than not these days) find it fashionable, cool, or just arrogantly independent to raise a fist towards the heavens and, in their self-proclaimed wisdom defy what they assume does not exist; in the all-too-familiar contradictory nature of atheism they rail against their assumption of an absence of anything greater than themselves.

For You Today

With all the forces that rock the earth and culture in which we live, each of us who lives as children of God, friends of Jesus, indwelt by the Comforter, must keep that second look at the promises of the rainbow.  We must be ready to proclaim as did the Psalmist the words of He whom we serve:

When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps its foundations firm.    

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

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com     Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Resting in the Connection

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Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ.  Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.  Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things.  You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy.  You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.  So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord.  Remember the great reward it brings you!  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will.  Then you will receive all that he has promised.  “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.  And my righteous ones will live by faith.  But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”  But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction.  We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.  Hebrews 10:32-39(NLT)

If there is any vital lesson in life it is that of connection.  From the lowly worms in a dirt colony working on preparing land to yield its best crop, to the migrating flocks of birds navigating their southern-bound flight from winter weather, all of God’s creatures are connected. 

That includes the human flocks!

In the United Methodist tribe, we talk a lot about connectionalism, the art/discipline of being connected in Christ, for the purpose of the work of the Kingdom. 

Doug Ruffle, a UMC Pastor shared how he was blessed by this connection.  He was serving in a rural area of Argentina.  Ten days of torrential rains and the ensuing floods overwhelmed his little town.  Normal life came to a standstill, and the dangers of disease and shortages became a reality. 

Within a few days UMC churches from Buenos Aires, 125 miles away, had formed a caravan of cars bearing food supplies, mattresses and clothing.

Doug wrote:

Our ‘connection’ is a gift.  It became ever so clear to me the preciousness of that gift the year of the flooding. The Methodists in Buenos Aires saw their brothers and sisters out in the country were in trouble and answered the call. I give thanks to God for my Methodist friends for their timely response and solidarity. Though we are many people, congregations, and fellowships scattered across the world, we are still one church and one body united in Christ. The connection means we share in each others’ joys and work together to treat each others’ pains.[2]

There is something about being part of something larger than yourself that’s so big, and such a trusted blessing, it can hardly be defined.  It is family-strong, rescuer to the needy, strength to the faith-filled, haven to the troubled, home to the lost, joy to the sorrowing, and sacred in the eyes of God.

After more than a half-century in the church, much of that time as a pastor, I cannot figure out how people manage without the connectional assurance of a church family.  To my mind, the difficulties we find with close relationships are worth every risk, every inconvenience, every cost.  In Christ, it is much more than eternity together, it is the quality of that eternity – connected; everyone who belongs to Jesus belongs to everyone who belongs to Jesus.

For You Today

Here we are on the brink of the Holidays.  Do you just dread the hyper-activity of the season…or do you find rest in the connection?

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

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of United Methodist Discipleship Ministries

[2] Doug Ruffle – My Experience With Connection

Noah's Sermon

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Thursday, June 15, 2018

It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood.  He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before.  By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.  Hebrews 11:7^(NLT)

In the past 40 years I’ve had a constant battle to keep my sermons short enough to prevent a lynching.  Someone once said there is a close comparison of a long sermon with a hostage situation.  But, truth be told, I’ve got nothing on Noah!

By most accounts it took Noah around 100 years to preach his sermon.  He built the boat God ordered; that ark was Noah’s sermon, the witness of what God would do to judge the sins of humankind.  I recall studying the 100 Years War in World History, but it’s hard to even imagine a sermon that long.  Once the Apostle Paul preached through a whole night[2] – so long a youth in the crowd named Eutychus fell asleep, and then fell out of his window seat to the pavement below.  He died from the fall (which could start another sermon, talk about being slain in the spirit!), but Paul prayed him back to life.

Getting back to Noah’s sermon – the boat would eventually house the entire world’s population of eight humans, and a zoo of animal pairs, the new beginning point of life on planet earth.  In reviewing the construction planning part of the conversation between God and Noah there is a detail that seems conspicuously absent:  God never mentioned giving the ark a rudder to steer the ship ^{(See Genesis 6)}. 

In the normal course of things, a ship without a rudder is a disaster looking for a place to happen.  But in this case a rudder was entirely unnecessary; God would do the steering (besides, Noah and crew had no clue as to the destination – and there was no dry land or port left on earth to which they could go.  You don’t need a steering wheel when you don’t know where you’re going, and there’s nowhere to go.).

Which brings me to the point of Noah’s sermon…three points, really (every sermon’s got three of ‘em):

a.      God does hold us accountable, and there is judgment for our behavior, either now with a flood of God’s attempts to bring us back into the fold of fellowship, or later with a much more serious consequence.

b.      What God did with the human population then, providing an ark of safety and a preacher/message calling them into that boat…God always does for His creation; there once was a manger and a cross!

c.      What God spoke to the people was a message of loving concern to join Him where there is a new beginning, and a profoundly joyful sense of security; He still offers that.

For You Today

If you’re already in that ark of Heavenly safety, safe and secure from all alarm, enjoying that fellowship and joy divine, there’s a good chance you want that for your friends, neighbors, and family. 

Let Noah’s message of accountability and a paid-for boarding pass on Salvation’s Ship be your message to everyone…. just don’t take 100 years to preach it.

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

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[1] Title Image:  By Chris Light [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

[2] See Acts 20:9

Lenten Walk - Part 16

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Thursday, March 8, 2018

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^(NLT)

Noah needed this!  After a year like he’d just had he needed a rainbow!  The beginning was bad enough; through years of struggle to build the ark he’d endured the insults of the whole community referring to him as that crazy old man building a boat the size of Kansas…and not even a pond nearby.  His wife and three sons helped, but, in the backs of their minds even they must have wondered if the community naysayers were right; had their father lost it?  Was Noah deranged?  And then God brought all those animals…messy, smelly, loud, and some dangerous.  If this was going to be a fun cruise, Mrs. Noah and the boys didn’t recall seeing anything like that in the brochures!

And then it started raining!  And God shut them in the dark ark!  And they could hear the screams, people begging to let them come aboard; and then it was silent.

A year later it was silent again as they stepped off their floating houseboat onto dry, uninhabited, silent earth. 

Although I cannot say for certain, my guess is one of two conditions existed:

·       Planet earth was the smelliest place in the universe with all the corpses of animals and humans rotting everywhere, the devastation of the mother of all tsunamis worse than the path of a midwest twister.

·       Planet earth was new and pristine, God having miraculously restored some order to what man managed to mess-up since the time of Adam and Eve.

Either way, there is one thing you couldn’t mistake:  once all those animals, snakes, birds and mosquitoes disembarked the ark and dispersed into the surrounding mountainous areas, Noah began to take-in just how very alone he and his family were.  And it was quiet…very quiet.

And at that moment came the words Noah needed:  Never Again!  With that short, powerful promise God spoke comfort to the whole human race – all 8 people – it was assurance that God would never again let the floodwaters destroy everything.

You don’t have to fast-forward very far to see who broke the covenant; Noah laying drunk in his tent, and his family’s fear and disobedience, evidence that we forget very quickly…even when God has led us through the worst storms.

We also need those words, never again.  I believe these are the same words we hear echoing from heaven after the cross, God having endured the pain of forgiving our sins at the cost of His own dear son:  Never again; this sacrifice is sufficient and permanent!

These are the words we hear about our forgiven sins when the enemy tries to bring them up, to trip us up:  Never again; those sins are under the blood!

These are words we need from time to time in our walk through a season of Lent; these are the words we need in our walk through life. 

For You Today

Keeping the right perspective on the promises of God is vital.  When God says never again, His nature and character have the power to sustain such a promise.  We, on the other hand, must remember when we say never again, to include:  with God’s help!

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

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com