“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. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 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.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

“…every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time…”

O how humanity has fallen. It went from being made in the image of God and being deemed by God as “very good” to looking like something very other than that image and God being deeply troubled by what he saw and regretting he made them. The wickedness of those early humans was robust and complete. Every inclination. Only evil all the time. The world in the day of Noah was filled with evil and violence.

If we ever find ourselves questioning “Why is there suffering? Doesn’t God care?” He cares very much. The suffering that grieves our hearts grieves his unimaginably more. Because his love is so vast and wide and deep, the pain he feels over suffering is similarly vast and wide and deep.

This was not how it was supposed to be.

The world that was once so good was now filled with evil. It was so bad that the only solution was to start again.

In this act of divine judgment, God demonstrated justice and mercy towards Noah and his family by bringing them safely in the ark to a world cleansed of the evil that held it captive.

But it is humanity’s nature, with it’s marred image of God, to turn away from him. “The Fall” in the Garden of Eden caused a separation between humans and God, and in turn we became separated from each other, the natural world, and even within themselves. And the evil and destruction we continue to sow on the earth still grieves him. He does plan to rid the world of it once again as we read on Day 1, but we won’t need a boat to ride out a deluge. We will only need Jesus. He will be the ark that carries us into the glorious new creation where there is no more sorrow or pain. And this time it won’t be a temporary fix, but an eternal one. Thanks be to God.

Let us pray.

Thank you God for your grace and mercy. Thank you for your great patience and not giving up on us, even when we turn our back on you. And thank you that you have a plan to once and for all rid the world of all that is evil and corrupt. Thank you, Jesus, for seeing us through the storms and floods of our daily lives and to one day seeing us safely arrive in that new world. Amen.

Questions

Is it hard to conceive that people could be “only evil all the time”? Or are there things about modern society that make it not so difficult to comprehend?

For many, the idea of God’s judgment fills them with fear. Can considering that God judges not out of malice but out of love and justice, to set all that has gone wrong right, change that?

When is the last time you suffered or went through a difficult trial? Perhaps you are in the midst of something right now. Think about what it means that God is one who suffers alongside you.