Genesis 6:5-22; 8:6-12; 9:8-17
(sermon note:09-13 sermon note)
6:5 The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” 8 But Noah found favor with the Lord.
9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God. 10 Noah was the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. 12 God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt. 13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!
14 “Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. 15 Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.
17 “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. 18 But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 19 Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. 20 Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. 21 And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”
22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
8:6 After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7 and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the floodwaters on the earth had dried up. 8 He also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. 10 After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. 11 This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone. 12 He waited another seven days and then released the dove again. This time it did not come back.
8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”
12 Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. 13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. 14 When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, 15 and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. 16 When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” 17 Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a small neighborhood that was flooding so much to the point that the rooftops were the only dry place. Vince and Frank were seated on one roof, waiting for rescue, when suddenly, out of one of the neighboring houses, they observed a floating hat. It drifted over to a shed nearby and then drifted back to the front of the house. Bubbles started bursting on the surface of the water by the hat and then it moved in a circular pattern where the circles got smaller and smaller (like a spiral) until it hit the center of what would be the lawn in front of the house. The bubbles stopped and the hat then drifted on back to the shed. The hat then disappeared back into the house. Vince turned to Frank and said, “What do you think that was about?” Frank answered, “Oh, that’s just Robert. I remember talking to him yesterday and I remember him proclaiming that ‘come hell or high water, I am going to mow that lawn!'”
Now that, my friends, is a man with dedication and purpose! Not unlike Noah in today’s reading, except he didn’t seem to get a message to do his work before the flooding began. But what can you say, when a man has dedication and purpose then there is little to keep him from gettin’ it done. And yes, that includes women too! Purpose and dedication are powerful tools to have in a person’s toolbox. Just look at what they enabled Noah to build…a 450-foot long, 75-foot wide, 45-foot high boat! Pretty impressive even by modern standards. Not too many men out there building such a behemoth by themselves anymore. And why would they? God promised to never send a cataclysmic flood again. Unless you believe God doesn’t keep his promises, doing something like that is complete absurdity. And we know God keeps his word. Time and time again God keeps his promises. He kept his promises throughout scripture, and He’s kept his promises throughout history. Why wouldn’t we trust God? Our God is a good and faithful God, a God to be trusted and revered.
So if we believe this, why do we remember a time when God’s anger got the better of him? God was clearly disappointed with his creation as we heard at the start of our reading. “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.” Rather than continue to encourage better behavior, God gave up and allowed his anger to guide oversight of the world. He sought to destroy almost every living thing in the world. Why? Perhaps then a proper fear of God would be instilled in the hearts of his creation and that fear would improve our behavior. Unfortunately, having a proper fear isn’t enough to ensure right behavior. Just ask any tyrant…just ask HITLER! I know, I know, the “fear of the Lord” has nothing to do with being afraid of God. It has to do with honoring and respecting God and that’s something we have a hard time doing. We’ve been struggling with honoring and respecting God ever since the garden which is really a mystery unto itself. Why are we so quick to dishonor and disrespect God? Is it our free will? We dishonor and disrespect simply because we can. Or is it because we feel abandoned by God sometimes? It’s hard to feel his presence and love at times. Shouldn’t we be able to feel his presence and love at all times? What kind of God hides himself and his love from his beloved creation? We dishonor and disrespect as a way of re-engaging God, as a way of getting his attention again. Maybe we dishonor and disrespect because we’re afraid of ourselves and/or those around us. The point is there are multiple reasons for our struggle with honoring and respecting God. Without a proper fear of the Lord, we get into trouble in this world. Noah had a proper fear of the Lord and because of it, he and his family were saved from God’s flood. We ought to learn from his witness and maintain a proper fear of the Lord.
But the flood revealed interesting aspects of God’s character. It revealed that He is a God of anger and vengeance. It revealed that He is a God who wants the best for us. It revealed that He is a God who wants his creation to succeed and thrive in this world. Friends, these are good qualities to have in our God! He wanted to obliterate his entire creation and start anew but He didn’t. He kept alive two of each creatures, just enough to repopulate the world. We are “right” creatures with wrong behavior. God loves us! We just need to figure out “right” behavior. And we’re working on it, don’t think we aren’t. But just as our disrespect and dishonor of God is a great mystery, so, too, is our wrong behavior. We know that even Paul, the great apostle of scripture, couldn’t solve the mystery either. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Rom 7:15) Of course, he attributes his wrong behavior to the sin within him, but I think that’s an easy answer. If only we could get rid of sin, then we could get rid of wrong behavior. I don’t think it’s that easy. Focusing on righteousness and virtue seem far more effective in getting “right” behavior. But that’s a discussion for a different time…
The flood revealed good qualities of our God. It enabled God to establish the first of his five covenants from scripture. God promised never to destroy us again (though remember, He didn’t really try to destroy us by keeping two of each creature alive!). His covenant revealed that He is a God of love, first and foremost. As John reiterates in his first letter, “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (4:8) Our God is a loving God who interacts with us coming from a place of love. And we can’t forget what John said earlier in his letter, “God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” (1:5) To some, the flood appears to come from a place of darkness but in actuality it was God’s light shining in the darkness we had created. God’s light will later be shown in Christ himself.
Through the flood, we get to see God’s love and light, God’s anger and hope. We get to see God’s desire for us to succeed and thrive in this world. Because of the flood and the covenant it brought about, we can fully appreciate that our God is a God of compassion and mercy…slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” (Exo. 34:6) Let us seek to honor and respect him just as Noah had. And let us give our thanks and praise. Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
