January 8, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

God’s Pain

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Opening Prayer

Father, I thank You for the privilege I have to come boldly to Your throne of grace. I worship You.

Read Genesis 6:1-22

[1] When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, [2] the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. [3] Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” [4] The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-and also afterward-when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. [5] 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. [6] The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. [7] 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.” [8] But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. [9] This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. [10] Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. [11] Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. [12] God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. [13] So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. [14] So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. [15] This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. [16] Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. [17] I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. [18] But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark-you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. [19] You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. [20] Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. [21] You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” [22] Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Reflect

“Many people hold a view of God as unchanging and indifferent … But Israel’s God is fully a person who hurts and celebrates” (Walter Brueggemann).

The positive thrust of the genealogy is soon shattered. Previously “God saw all … and it was very good” (1:31). Now “the Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth,” and “God saw how corrupt the earth had become” (5,12). God had commanded humans to “fill the earth” (1:28), but now “the earth … was full of violence” (11). Corruption was the mark of all flesh (vs. 12,13; TNIV has “all the people,” but from v. 17 on the same Hebrew word includes all creatures). God’s intention for the world has been dashed by a narrow and selfish human vision.

How will God respond? Here we read not of “anger” but of God’s “grief” (6). When “every inclination … of the human heart was only evil” (5), God’s “heart” was “deeply troubled” (the same Hebrew root as the “pain” of 3:17). Human sin causes pain for God as well as for humans; it’s a pain most vividly seen in the cross. God is not here an angry judge, but a grieving parent. Whereas ancient Near Eastern accounts describe the flood as a means of population control, the noise of overpopulation disturbing the gods’ sleep, the biblical reason is moral judgment. “I am surely going to destroy” (13) uses the same word as previously translated “corrupt” (11,12): “What God decided to destroy had been virtually self-destroyed already” (Derek Kidner).

“Wipe out” (7, CEV) may include a blotting out of sin. Divine agony leads to a new start, as God shows “favor” to Noah, whose lifestyle was countercultural in his day (8,9). The ark is to be God’s provision of salvation, enabling the continuation of humankind and “every kind of creature” (19,20; 1 Pet. 3:20,21).

Apply

Ponder God’s “pain” over humans “corrupting” what he has made, and, in Christ, join him in doing what is good today.

Closing prayer

Righteous God, I am reminded that sin brings death, but You have provided for my salvation. I thank You for Your saving grace through the Lord Jesus.

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