Noah and the Flood

 

The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” Genesis 6:5-8

In Genesis 1 God creates the heavens and the earth and at each stage declares that the creation is “good.” By Genesis 6 God is so fed up with the wickedness of humanity that God is resolved to wipe them from the face of the earth. Talk about a fall from grace! In some respects we could point to the creator and argue that there was a design flaw in humanity. After all, God gave us free will and made us what could God expect? But Noah complicates this picture: “But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.” (Genesis 6:8) Not all of humanity was wicked, not all of creation had chosen to rebel against God.

God searched for anyone who was righteous and Noah was. And because Noah was righteous he and his family would be spared from the devastating flood as God started over. The story of Noah is anything but a feel-good children’s story centered on an ark, animals, and a rainbow. Instead, it is a story of God’s anger, natural disasters, and faith. Despite the faith and righteousness of Noah, God’s anger and disappointment about humanity’s rebellion and wickedness is complete. God cares deeply about how we live our lives and is greatly angered when we rebel and reject God. The story of the flood demonstrates God’s judgment as it wipes out creation and all that is in it (see Genesis 7). God uses a natural disaster to punish humanity.

This raises several important questions. Does God continue to punish us for our sin with natural disasters? Did God send a tornado or earthquake or tsunami to punish us? Some TV preachers still hold to this type of thinking. After the Katrina hurricane some said God was punishing New Orleans because of its acceptance of homosexuality. But if we take the story of Noah seriously, we see that God promises to never again use a natural disaster as a punishment for sin.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. Genesis 8:20-21

God makes a promise to never again punish creation in this way. But it was not because of Noah’s great faithfulness that God resolves not to punish again, but because God sees clearly that the human heart is filled with sin. God had expected humans to live up to their God-given potential and to live righteously in partnership with God. The conclusion of the flood story is in part a capitulation by God that humans are not capable of living up to God’s expectations. It isn’t that God doesn’t care about sin and wickedness, rather God will respond with resignation not destruction.

The story of Noah is also the story of one person’s faith and devotion to God. While humanity as a whole might be an utter disappointment to God, Noah was righteous. While we all might sin and fall short of who God created us to be God has not and will not give up on us. Similarly, the righteousness of one man (Jesus) becomes the basis of saving all. For that we give thanks and ask for God to strengthen us for the journey of faith that we might righteous lives that are God-pleasing while also knowing that we have the ultimate gift of grace and mercy.