Genesis 7:17-24
Verse 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
Now that they were safely closed up into the Ark, God started His cleansing process. Whereas He had created the world into being with His voice, this time He was going to do a refresh without the spoken word. When God spoke to have the water separate from the land God knew this day would come when He caused the land to disappear again for a time. It was all part of His bigger plan. A plan where the hurt He experienced from those He had made to worship Him understood He was serious about righteousness.
He had lovingly created this place for all of His creation, paying attention to each and every detail that would ensure their life. But now that evil had overrun the hearts of the people He had created, it was time to end it all except for the lives He had shut up in the giant boat He had Noah build. His love was now showing in the form of wrath on evil and grace on those He had chosen.
We can’t fully understand His wrath because we can’t fathom the depth of His love. He knew to keep evil from gaining such a foothold on the people of the earth, He needed to shorten their lifespan. When people lived too long it allowed them to continue getting more evil and spreading more evil. Therefore the generational sins would go deeper and likely morph into something even more evil.
God hates evil, we need to understand that and maybe ask ourselves why we accept it so readily. We rename sins so they don’t sound so bad. We call lies by various other names, we call adultery, cheating and so many other ways we soften the language so we don’t feel so bad about it. But our going soft on sin doesn’t reflect the Father.
In Noah’s story, God’s abundant grace shows up in the form of a boat. He chose to save a man who was living a righteous life so He could rebuild the population of humans from a righteous man. But His compassion for His creation had saved the animals too. He didn’t have to save anyone or anything, He could have just wiped it all out and started again, but He chose to reveal His grace through protection and sustaining.
Making It Personal
Do you despise evil? When has God shown His grace to you? Do you show grace to others?
Making It Personal Kids
Do you like being around people who are bad people? How does God show you grace? How can you show grace to others?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for Your grace. We don’t deserve it and yet You give it freely. Help us show others grace too. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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