Where Are They Now? a Sequel
the heart of Biblical Greats
October 4th, 2021
Romans 8:3-4, ‘God went for the jugular when He sent His own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In His Son, Jesus, He personally took on the human condition, entered into the disorderly mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.’ (the MESSAGE)
REGRET
Genesis 6:5-9, ‘The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was greatly troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them, the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord…Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.’ (NIV)
Have you ever wished you could unwant something? There was perhaps a desire, a yearning, that seemed so right at the time, but then it really hadn’t turned out the way you envisioned?
Noah had lots and lots of days rocking in that boat to contemplate all of what had transpired. Just like it was yesterday, he could still conjure up the fascination which came over him as he heard the Lord God call his name. It began in his belly and spread through every orifice in his body and erupted in his mind. He had one question, ‘What’s rain?’ he had wanted to ask, but knew that was trivial compared to all the other information downloading into his brain.
He got the why. He watched the craziness, all of humanity losing their minds, going mindless, not one bit of consideration for themselves, let alone others. He didn’t blame God one bit; he was fed up also. In fact, if his kids were acting even one fraction of crazy as he was witnessing around him, he’d do away with them too. Thank God, uh-hmm, his were about the only sane ones he knew.
So, he had gotten it; he recalled now like it was yesterday. Even if he hadn’t, he would have done exactly as he had been told by God. It was too lofty not to. And the dimensions and architecture for what would become their next home, their mobile home no less, didn’t really make sense, but he had learned long before, it was wiser just to do as God says than to question Him or be disobedient…’I mean,’ Noah thought aloud, ‘He’s God, and all that grandeur, and anyway, He has the power to wipe you out if you disobey! So better just obey, right? I mean, look what He is doing right now!’ Noah had told his wife, and she solemnly had nodded her head in awe and agreement. Again, thank God, uh-hmm, for a wife who agreed! Or at least obeyed, even if she silently disagreed. At least, she wasn’t out picking fruit off random trees and getting us kicked out of the ark, he remembered that he had thought wryly.
But what was rain? That silly little detail had niggled at his head the entire time he was building, throughout the whole election process as they surveyed every living thing—‘You stay; you load up. Hey, you, over there, pay attention.’ Even when his life became a thoroughfare, everything marching past him, twoxtwo, it bothered him—what the heck is rain that I’m preparing so diligently for?! His kids asked him, and he felt bad not being able to answer their earnest questions; after all, it surely was affecting them too, as they pounded nails and stood lumber and sadly mentioned a friend’s name here and there who wouldn’t be setting sail in a few days.
Noah still got a chuckle out of it, even though he was so elderly now, not much made him laugh anymore. He had seen it all, that was true, in his lifetime. Not much he hadn’t witnessed. He sure learned what rain was! At first it seemed miraculous. A drop of wet here, a drip of water there, from out of the air, even! Like someone had spit or a lion had shaken its mane after a long drink. Then the drips and drops began coming faster, and soon, it literally was like the sky was crying, like God was weeping, Noah had thought, and he wished he could comfort Him. Suddenly, the sky opened up, like a rip tearing clean through, from one end of the horizon to the next, and all they could see was this chaotic deluge called rain. Why hadn’t God just said He was going to water, or the sky is going to weep; why had He called it rain? Except that the weeping water had rained down upon them for what seemed like a lifetime.
Noah had never seen so much water, nor would anyone ever again. God had promised. And he hadn’t, he realized as he checked his memory. Nothing had ever come close again. Noah closed his eyes; he was so very tired. Just like always, he imagined the ark of colors that had shot across the sky. It had been the most beautiful sight; the most amazing agreement God had made with him for all mankind. God’s promise to never again send so much rain that it would flood the earth; never again would He destroy the world by rain. He had even sealed the covenant with a bow. Noah wondered why God had made that promise, and as he speculated, he suddenly thought he understood. Even in God’s regret, in His frustration over mankind not having turned out as He’d designed, Noah speculated, the Lord God had most likely been so sad wiping out the world, He’d decided He would find a different way next time to rectify things…if it ever came to that again, that is…
John 3:16-17, ‘”For here is the way God loved the world—He gave His only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in Him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send His Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!”’ (TPT)
