Many of us will discover in today’s reading an uneasy tension. Just a week ago, we marveled at God’s creation of order out of chaos, and in many respects, today’s flood story is about the divine un-doing of creation. God the creator, the one who breathed life into our nostrils, has become God the destroyer, the one who “blots out” every living thing. And much as I’d prefer to opt for the kinder, gentler God, today I’m taking the story at face value and opening myself to this disturbing paradox.
It occurs to me, for instance, that though we might not like it, all of us face times when the waters—the chaos—of life swell so mightily that they submerge our own loftiest heights. Often that chaos comes out of the blue, like the windows of heaven randomly opening and dumping on us. Sometimes, though, the chaos that engulfs us is simply bursting forth from the cumulative choices that we’ve made, choices that, along the way, didn’t seem so significant.
Notice too how much collateral damage is involved in this deluge. The biblical narrator says God is utterly disgusted with the wickedness of humanity, but destruction comes not just to people but to “everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life” (7:22). But that’s how chaos works, isn’t it? I often think the ramifications for our choices can be unfairly vast, but vast they often are.
Let’s not forget Noah and his cargo, though. For throughout this story of sweeping devastation, we keep being reminded of Noah, his righteousness, and all who are saved through it. It’s as if his family members and the creatures he rounds up are rendered “righteous” by association with him. For me, such “contagion of goodness” is a glimmer of grace in an otherwise troubling story. How about you?
- When waters rise in your life, how do you respond?
- What kind of God do you find in this story?
- What other details did you notice in today’s reading?
Prayer: Open our eyes, O God, to see more clearly the places of chaos and destruction in our lives and in our world. Help us to own up, and to look toward a fresh start. Amen.
Breath Prayer: Heaven’s windows // opened wide.
