Essential 100—Read:
Genesis 6:5-22; 7:1-24
“So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” ~Genesis 6:7-8
Everybody knows the story of Noah and the Ark—and the flood. And just about everybody has a couple of questions they would like resolved about this story. Like, is it true? Was there really an ark—and does it still exist, undiscovered in some far away location? Could all the creatures of the earth fit into this boat—even elephants and dinosaurs? Is there any evidence of a world-wide flood? And what about…?
Well, I’m not going to try to answer those questions for you—I don’t think you’ll ever get the details you would like to have about this story on this side of heaven. I would simply encourage you to accept the veracity of the flood account on faith—the Bible has a pretty good track record of authenticity, you know!
But I would like to point out a couple of unusual details of this story that have personal ramifications for you and me. The first one is from Genesis 6:7, where we notice that God felt tremendous emotional pain from the sinfulness of man. So much did it grieve God that he actually regretted making the creature he loved the most. And don’t be misled, our sinfulness still grieves God, because even the “littlest” of sin goes against the grain of who God is, violates the core purpose of why he created us, and disrupts the fellowship he longs to have with us. Sin stinks! Don’t ever forget that!
But the second unusual detail ought to make you stand up and do a jig at this point. It’s found in the next verse, Genesis 6:8: “But Noah found grace in God’s eyes.” (NKJV) Hallelujah! God’s grace trumps sin—my sinfulness and yours, too! A. W. Tozer wrote,
“Abounding sin is the terror of the world, but abounding grace is the hope of mankind.”
The ark made it possible for one man and his family to escape the righteous wrath of a God who must call sin to account, and God’s greatest display of grace, Jesus’ death and resurrection, makes it possible for you and me to escape the ultimate consequence for sin—eternal separation from God’s presence in hell.
Yes, God’s grace is greater than all my sin. Thank God for grace!
It amazes me how I read something in Scriptures and get an idea and don't realize that I got it wrong til I get a fresh revelation and so it is that it wasn't until I read "where we notice that God felt tremendous emotional pain " that I realized I had always thought of God being angry at man and I realize now that he felt pain and grieved about what man was doing….that really got my attention and then the next question: how grieved is He now? and then the rest of the story: where the Word tells us that we can "grieve the Holy Spirit" (lots to think about!)