PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Genesis 7-9
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.” (Genesis 8:21)
Believe it or not, the flood story reveals God’s plan for mercy, not punishment.
Simply put, this story explains why punishment can’t help fix the world.
The punishment of the flood did not change the human heart, it remained sinful.
We have not changed, humans continue to be inclined to evil from childhood.
Even the ‘righteous Noah’ and his family mess it up again (Genesis 9:18-28).
Yet God renews the Adam covenant with sinful Noah (who represents all of us).
For better or worse, God will continue to use sinful humans as His partners.
And instead of cursing it, God will absorb the curse Himself, putting up with it.
Until that curse is fully absorbed in Jesus, and the flood of judgment is taken by Him.
Jesus’s baptism is a retelling of the flood story: God steps into the flood.
And the dove that disappeared (Genesis 8:12) finally lands on Jesus (Matthew 3:16).
The moral of this story: God will restore the world through mercy, not punishment!
God Himself will bear the cross of the curse, so that we can be rescued from it.
PRAYER
Lord, even though my heart remains sinful, You have covenanted to stand with me, to suffer for me, and to restore me as Your partner. Thank You for finding a way to end the curse without ending me.
Come clean – a clean start. It was so promising. Reminds me that I need to ‘come clean’ – repent of my willful errors and allow ‘Jesus’ to lead me out – to help me stay clean! Oh HS like the rainbow – remind me of Grace and the striving to stay clean. Thanks be to God!
Genesis 8:22 — “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
Genesis 9:14-15 — …”the [rain]bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
Despite all the evil in the world, in human hearts, God’s grace prevails. All that cycles will continue, as long as God sees fit and both He & we will be reminded of the covenant He made long ago. That gives me hope.