A little further into Genesis (Chapters Six through Nine), we learn that after Adam and Eve left the Garden, several generations of humans continued on a path to destruction, a downward spiral into corruption, wickedness, and violence. God regretted creating humans. He decided to bring a flood that would wipe away all life on earth.

Well, not all life.

There was one good man, Noah, who listened. “Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6:9) When I think about Noah, I am simply in awe of his faith and his obedience. And I cannot help wondering if he was lonely. How could he not have been very lonely? He was the only good person on earth! He was the only man who knew and listened to God. Perhaps it was frightening too. Can you imagine living in that world? It was already flooded, in a sense, flooded with evil. The story does not say, but perhaps Noah found fellowship and solace with his wife and sons. Aside from them there were no other good people with whom he could be friends. It could not have been easy.

What Noah had was God. God would protect him and his loved ones because he was blameless and, thus, worthy of God’s protection from the flood that would consume the whole earth. Noah would be saved.

So God told Noah to build an ark, right in the middle of the desert, and he gave him the knowledge to do that. Noah did just what God told him to do. “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did” (Genesis 6:22) God even gave instructions on who and what else Noah was to bring aboard the ark before the rains came. Food, animals . . .

Because, you see, it was more than just humans who would be blotted out. “Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which in the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. (Genesis 6:17)

Well, the rains did come, and come, and come. And the ark kept its occupants safe as the waters flooded the earth. The ark was afloat for quite some time. And after the waters subsided, it was still not safe to come out for yet another long period of time until the earth dried up. Then finally, Noah and his family and all the animals came out. They started a new life. And God made a promise to the one person who had listened to him, and to all who would come after. He made a solemn vow to Noah that he would never do that again. And he sealed this covenant with a sign, a reminder, a bow in the clouds of the sky.

There is so much to this story. It really is a lot to take in. No one would listen to God, the Maker of all the universe. And God hated what the world had become; so he basically got rid of everything and everybody in order to start all over! And what strikes me the most on this reading (and it is something new and different every reading) is that when he saw what humans had become and what was happening on this earth he created, “He [God] was grieved in his heart.” (Genesis 6:6)

Grief. And we (created in his image) know grief too. It may be silly, but I have this image of our Supreme Being, weeping as he sent the rains to destroy the earth in this story. But God weeping? Maybe it is easier to picture Jesus Christ weeping, because a small portion of what Christ (God as man) does, is make it easier for us to see and understand God, the Creator, who is really beyond our understanding.

God grieved for his children before he sent the flood.

Does he grieve now?

I will remember this story and that promise whenever I see a rainbow.

FOR REFLECTION

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Genesis 6:5-6

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. . . Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:8, 9

And God added: “This is the sign of the covenant that I am giving between me and you and every living soul that is with you, for the generations to time indefinite. My rainbow I do give in the cloud, and it must serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. And it shall occur that when I bring a cloud. And I shall certainly remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living soul among all flesh; and no more will the waters become a deluge to bring all flesh to ruin. And the rainbow must occur in the cloud, and I shall certainly see it to remember the covenant to time indefinite between God and every living soul among all flesh that is upon earth.” Genesis 9 12-16