In the story of Noah and the ark, Noah was tasked by God to build and fill a gigantic boat with his family and a male and female of every animal on earth. For many of us, this is one of the first stories heard at Sunday School or the first piece of artwork our eyes saw as infants in our nurseries. The story of Noah’s Ark is met with illustrations of smiling faces, happy animals, and a pretty rainbow in the background. And while happiness is depicted in modern illustrations, the reason God had Noah build the ark is pretty grim.
God’s Regret
We see in Genesis 6:5-6, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.”
I don’t know about you, but reading that the Lord regretted that he had made man (both man and woman) and animals is hard to stomach. How bad were the hearts of man? Scripture says their hearts were “only evil all the time” meaning there was no repentance, just utter disobedience to what God had created them to be.
God’s Call to Obedience
The Lord calls us to be obedient. Not because He is some mean God who wants to control us, but because he is a loving Father who sees all, knows all, and wants to see His children flourish into who He created them to be. But, since we are not puppets controlled by a marionettist God, we are free to live our lives in one of two ways. We can either follow Scripture and what God says to bring about a life well-lived for His glory and our good, or we can live against Him, succumbing to the world in disobedience.
In Genesis 5:6 some translations say, “…and it grieved him [God] to his heart.” That is such a clear picture of how God loves and desires to see His people be obedient to His Word because when we are disobedient, He is deeply grieved. He knows what is best for us, yet Scripture is full of generations of people thinking they know what is best for them.
God’s Great Grace
Aren’t we the same? It’s easy to read the stories of Scripture and think, “What were these people thinking?!” In reality, modern day believers are the exact same way. When we lie, cheat, steal, covet, etc, we are willingly disobeying the Lord, and we sadly do this every single day.
But, the difference between the ancient people of the Bible and us as modern day followers of Christ is that God established in His Word that He would never again flood the earth to destroy what He created (Genesis 9:11). He gives us chance after chance to repent of our sin, walk forward in obedience to His Word, and live our life as a reflection of His grace. We are able to know Him through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
How are you living your life, friend? Do you live your life in disobedience to the Lord? If that’s you today, God wants your obedience. He loves you and knows what is best for you. Seek Him today. Open His Word. I pray that you’re able to reflect on what a gift of grace it is that He will never flood the earth again. We have all been given a “second chance” to turn from our evil ways of sin and come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. He calls to us from His Word. Will you answer?
