February 4, 2017
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

How Low Can You Get?

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Opening Prayer

Gracious Father, help me to be a bearer of hope, a champion of justice, and an agent of reconciliation.

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 THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“Goodness is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than hate. Light is stronger than darkness. Life is stronger than death. Victory is ours through him who loves us” (An African Prayer Book).

There are many questions raised by this chapter that we just don’t have clear answers to. In verses 1–4, who were the “sons of God”? Were they different from “the Nephilim” and what exactly was the problem with these relationships? We can speculate, but we don’t really know and such speculation can lead us to avoid the obvious lessons of the chapter. There are three things that are crystal clear. The first is that over the years the human race had gone downhill. This was not just a series of minor offenses which have been exaggerated into great wickedness (5). Rather, what had happened was that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (5). You can’t get lower than that! Second, it is clear that God had not yet finished with the human race. He recognized that it was not going to be possible to bring this generation back to relationship with him and therefore he was going to wipe the slate clean and start again: in effect, a new creation. However, the starting point was Noah’s family, who had been among the original inhabitants. In the midst of the endemic evil, Noah stood out as “righteous”; he “walked faithfully with God” (9). So the chapter’s third emphasis is that it is possible to live in the midst of total corruption without becoming enveloped by it. There is no evidence for the old chorus’s claim that “Mr. Noah pleaded so” with his fellow humans, but he did hear and heed the words of rescue that God spoke to him. The sentence of judgment and destruction is hard to hear, but sometimes the only way forward is with a new start.

Apply

In verses 8 and 9, what do we learn about Noah’s character? In what ways does the phrase “walked faithfully with God” (9b; 5:24) help you in your discipleship journey?

Closing prayer

God of justice, help Christians today to follow Noah’s example in standing out against violence, injustice and corruption and in walking faithfully with You.

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