Like Noah's Day

Thursday, May 11, 2023

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.  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.  Noah was the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence.  God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt.  So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence.  Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!  Genesis 6:5-13

Scripture points out that God is always watching the unfolding of His creation.  In Noah’s day it was not a pretty sight.  Imagine God, Who is holy, looking at the activities, thoughts, and hearts of human beings, and finding nothing but darkness.  In the 21^st century we are accustomed to hearing of the grace and mercy of God; Genesis introduces us to the justice of God. 

This passage of Scripture sets the tone for all theologically-sound doctrine, what we can say with confidence about the nature of God.  God’s evaluation of all human activity was evil wickedness, including our thoughts and intentions. 

The result of such is that we have filled the earth with wickedness and violence.  Who could argue with that, considering the state of our world.

·       In the 21^st-Century life is daily filled with news of disasters and tragic accounts of loss and doom. 

·       Every possible dark thing that takes place on earth is streaming on the Internet. 

·       There has never been a time in the history of human existence without a war going on somewhere on the planet; Cain killing Abel originated the murderous mele.

·       Deceit, greed, and selfishness have pervasively become the norm for interpersonal relationships.  And all of that has systematically unravelled the hope of family and even civil relationships in communities.

·       Sodom and Gomorrah are thriving!

It’s not stretching the truth to say that, had God not promised Noah the destruction of all life would never again be forthcoming, planet earth and all it holds would be in flames. 

And what our world looks like today is precisely what Jesus predicted would characterize the imminence of His return, bringing judgment to the earth:

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.  In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat.  Matthew 24:37-38

For You Today 

Judgment is unavoidable.  Every action, according to the laws of nature and physics, has an equal and opposite reaction.  Evil requires good to mitigate, as does evil attempting to undo good.  God is entirely good; evil will not last.

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

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   When It Hurts So Much  and  Good and Evil; the War   

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

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

A Dangerou Freedom

 

Monday, November 15, 2021

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.  There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.  For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.  For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge.  I will pay them back.”  He also said, “The Lord will judge his own people.”  It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  Hebrews 10:26-31

Ambivalence, that love-hate relationship of indecision and constant companion of procrastinators like me, is alive and annoying in the mind of Paul, as he holds up the most unsettling of truths for the followers of Christ – we have free will!

There is something deep within each of us crying-out to be free, yet recognizes the consequence of that freedom requires us to walk a dangerous line between the selfishness of doing what pleases us, as opposed to living obediently to another’s choices…namely our Creator’s will. 

The most dangerous place on the planet has nothing to do with war, global warming, or crossing a counter-punching ex-president; the most dangerous place on planet earth is between your own ears.  That’s so because in the recesses of our free will we make choices that have earthly consequence in the here and now, but also eternal consequence in the heavenly realms.  Free will is a dangerous freedom!

The consequence of sinning, deliberately choosing our own way in place of what God requires (doing what is right, loving mercy, walking humbly with God[1]) is judgment by our Creator.  That consequence is seen abundantly enough in Scripture to drive us to God’s mercy.  Yet we are prone, like the prophet Jonah, to hop a ride to the opposite direction.  We are running, but, as King David discovered – there is no place to hide.  In Noah’s day the freedom to choose devolved from any semblance of godliness until the only “salvageable” family left on the face of the earth was Noah’s.  God closed the door on the ark and drowned everything else with a flood of judgment.

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God is Paul’s final comment in today’s text; it makes my heart skip a beat, because I know it is true, and I stand as a fragile sinner before God just like anyone else.  Unlike the thinking of a favorite uncle of mine who used to tease me about getting a special sin discount because I preach on Sundays, I know my will is God’s biggest gift to me, and my own worst enemy.  My choices – my ways – are entirely selfish and my heart is as the poet Robert Robinson wrote it: 

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it —
Prone to leave the God I love;[2]

And so this dangerous freedom, cradled in the unstable will of this human man, is the one thing that drives me to the forgiveness of God – this prone to wander heart understands grace is the only thing that pulls me back.

For You Today

So…are you prone to wander into your free will’s selfishness like me?  Let God’s forgiving grace pull you back.  It’s what called you to Him in the first place.

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

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For another post on this theme see I Believe in Me - Nov 23, 2018

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[1] See Micah 6:8

[2] Robert Robinson, 1758

 

Life Interrupted

 

Friday, June 11, 2021

It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did.  Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts.  Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.  It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.”  For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God.  And it is impossible to please God without faith.  Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.  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 11:4-7

Three men, Abel, Enoch, and Noah – all men of faith in God, and one other piece of common experience – having their lives abruptly interrupted.  Enoch had, perhaps, the most pleasant experience of the three.  A friend and teacher of mine in seminary, Dr. Charles Graham, was the first I heard say it, Enoch walked with God (he was really good friends with the Lord).  And one day, after walking a good while, God said to him, Enoch, today we’ve walked so far together that we’re closer to my home than yours; why don’t you just come on home with me?  Going to Heaven while you skip the funeral home stuff has a certain appeal!

A little more disconcerting was Noah’s boat excursion.  Having God shut the door on everything Noah and family had ever known, while the thunder and lightning roared, and the earth broke up to push floods, well, THAT was no easy ride!

Perhaps the toughest life-interruption on the list belongs to Abel, who was the second child born to humanity.  According to this account in Scripture, Abel was a righteous man, meaning everything he did in life was intended to please God. 

Most funerals you’ve ever attended sound like they were for Abel.  The preacher talks about just how wonderful the person was in that casket.  But Genesis tells us Abel’s earthly walk through this life was interrupted in the most violent and unjust of ways.  His older brother, Cain, the firstborn child to Adam and Eve, got jealous over his younger brother’s righteousness and killed him with a rock.  Abel never got that wonderful funeral with all the aunts and uncles, and community of friends; his brother just hid his broken, bloodied body in the dust.

There is something quite at-odds with conventional “Christian” logic here.  All three of these men never got the testimonial retirement dinner and gold watch.  Abel’s death was a betrayal of a brother who murdered him.  Noah’s validation party only had his wife and kids…everybody else was dead.  And Enoch, well, he just disappeared one day, leaving everyone to wonder, and the news cycles reporting goofy stuff about him running off to the South of France with his secretary, or some other excuse…anything but righteousness.  Most so-called Christian thinking says that just isn’t right; they were good men, faithful to the Lord’s work…and WHAM…life interrupted…ended without fanfare or thanks.

Fast-forward a few millennia and check out the Book of Hebrews.  Because of their faith, God was pleased.  Whatever the news cycles read on the last day of Noah’s, Abel’s, or Enoch’s lives, God was pleased with them. 

For You Today

Gold watches and a framed commendation certificate to hang  on your den wall aside, what is it about your life that needs to be said on the day you breathe your last?  For any of us, isn’t it, God was pleased?

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

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com   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^©

Promise of the Rainbow

 

Monday, May 18, 2020

Genesis 9:8-17

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.”

The picture today is one my daughter took at the beach in Jacksonville, Florida this past Mother’s Day.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a rainbow from a perspective where you’re able to see the whole bow, ground-to-sky-to-ground, the full rainbow.  Mostly I see parts of rainbows, sometimes just a hint, and sometimes a half. 

This is so like the promises and miracles of God.  There are times you see just a hint that God crossed your path and left a blessing.  At other times you’re blown-away by the sheer magnitude of the gift and the power that is behind all of what He does in your life, because you get the full picture, and it leaves no doubt as to just how awesome and gracious is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…and little me.

I’m a lot older than I used to be, and at this stage of life you look back…a lot!  The gift of a family that still loves me, challenged by distance – not just the social distancing of late, but hundreds of miles and several states – well, it’s just a miracle gift and blessing, of which I can’t claim any credit.  I look at my bride and there’s a rainbow that stretches to this day from that first glance in a high school corridor back in 1964.  And in that glance there was a rainbow of promise; I couldn’t recognize it then, but I can see God’s hand though the years. 

We married a year and a half after graduating high school; I was just a week away from leaving for serving in Vietnam.  We would spend the next year only “seeing” each other in letters.  Three children, nine grands, and several great-grandchildren later, Elizabeth is still my closest, longest, and most needed relationship on this planet.  The best of all is she is aware, and approves the fact that she is still #2 in my life and allegiance, second only to Jesus. 

We live with problems, challenges of difficult circumstances, and bodies that don’t hold together nearly as good as they used to, nor as well as our minds (stuck at age 25 thinking) demand.  But that is not proof of the absence of God’s love or care; to be certain, it is just the opposite.  Our challenges in the autumn of life are like God’s rainbows, colorful, and covering the sky from time to time.  But they are not as painful as I once imagined they would be at this age.  They are more like rainbow reminders of the strength of God’s good promises, both here, on this planet, with mercies and strength as our day demands, and a foreshadow of splendor for the day after my last today…the eternity of joy with all the family I’ve had here on earth, and wonderful surprises, gifts, and eternal joy in my new home in glory, close to the One whose love I have only just begun to appreciate!

For You Today

I have a new passage of Scripture that I depend upon to center my heart and life as each morning dawns…it comes from (of all places), the Lamentations of Jeremiah:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.  I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”  Lamentations 3:22-24

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

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Title Image:  Carrie Brownworth Wynne (with permission)

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Genesis 9 see Promise Over the Power and  Lenten Walk - Part 16 and  Covenant Sign

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