Do you ever second-guess your choices? Not just the little ones but the ones that are too big to name out loud—choices that involve relationships, life purpose, and vocation? Welcome to the human condition. Perhaps surprisingly, we learn in today’s reading that we’re not alone. In the face of wonton human evil, we learn, “the Lord was sorry” to have created us; indeed, the choice “grieved [God’s] heart” (6:6).
If you ask me, God’s plan of action—to “blot out” all living things—seems a bit reactionary and immature. Not that this tendency to “throw it all away” isn’t familiar to us. If we’re honest, we know all too well the impulse to turn and walk away, to destroy those who oppose us, to cut and run.
“But Noah.” On these two words, our story of impending destruction takes a dramatic turn, as God takes a deep breath, looks around, and finds a shred of promise amid deep disappointment. Noah stands as a living reminder to God that perhaps God had catastrophized the situation. Perhaps not “every inclination” of humans was “only evil continually” (6:5). And so God saves Noah, and through him, all living things.
It occurs to me that not just Noah and his companions were salvaged here. Despite God’s first impulse, God chooses ultimately to affirm a relationship with creation, a relationship that hangs only by a thread. Sometimes, that’s how it works for us too. We stay with the job, or the relationship, or the parenting, or the church, even when we’re fed up. We find the glimmer of hope, we build an ark for it, and trust that, in time, restoration will come. Thanks be to even our sometimes-ornery God.
- How do you respond to people, circumstances, and groups that disappoint you?
- Name one situation that seems beyond hope. Can you find a “but Noah” shred of hope in it?
- What other details did you notice in today’s reading?
Prayer: O giver of life, we too sometimes find ourselves sorry about the way things have turned out. Show us the way forward that saves life, gives life, and restores life. Amen.
Breath Prayer: But Noah // found favor.
