Flood - Destruction or Deliverance

Saturday, October 17

Remember John Walton’s statement, “what God does through the flood is most important of all”? The last and foremost thing that should get our attention about this narrative is God’s deliverance- His rescue and redemption in chaos.

The critical verse for this declaration is Genesis 6:13, but here’s the challenge. The translation from Hebrew to English in the NIV is stifling or I would say inaccurate.

The NIV says, “I’m going to put an end to all people….” Other translations, like KJV, ESV, and NASB have this translation, “The end of humanity has come before me …”

Where else have we seen or heard that phrase or something similar? “Come before me”? God was aware, saw, heard? Genesis 4:10- Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

The phrase is a hyperlink, that connects the two, in both cases God is made aware of the violence and pain on the earth. The cries have come before him. Essentially what God is saying to Noah is that “Noah, the world is crying out to me, the pain of the world is before me, I hear the cries, I see the pain, and I MUST DO something.”

BTW- if you want to Geek out for a second, read Exodus 2. God also hears the people of Israel cry out because of their enslavement to the Egyptians and you know what God does to deliver them? An Ark and a baby …. Moses in the basket, swooped out of the water by Pharoh’s daughter. The word basket is the same word as ark.

God heard creation cry out, sent Noah and an ark. God heard his people cry out in Egypt and sent Moses in a basket. God heard Christ’s cry on the cross (Matthew 27:46) and sent redemption and deliverance.

My point is this. I don’t believe this is a story of God’s destruction over the earth. I believe that God, out of his great love said, “I MUST DO something.” He saw the violence, the ruin, the desolation on the land and with his creation, which he intended for good. He could either sit back and do nothing or out of his great love, take the disorder and recreate. I have a harder time believing in a god who would do nothing at the injustice that was ruining the world, than a God who did something, to redeem and deliver the cosmos from chaos.
The flood narrative is not primarily about punishment. It is about a God whose heart is moved by the cries of the suffering, a God who cannot remain passive in the face of violence and ruin. When you cry out, you are not crying into silence. You are crying to a God who has always heard and always responded.

Application

Do you genuinely believe God hears your cries, or does it feel like your prayers disappear into the ceiling? What has shaped that belief?

What do you do when your world or the world around feels like it is collapsing? Trust God’s deliverance, that he will rescue and redeem the chaos in your life. Even if it is hard.

God must do something when he hears the cries, his heart is moved, because if God did nothing, that is a greater offense. But here in lies the problem and where I will get a lot of push back. Because how many times have you said, maybe even in the midst of your collapse- why won’t God do anything? Why does it feel like God’s ears don’t hear my cries? Why does it feel like God is sitting on his hands?

Folks, I hear you, I see you, I’ve cried out in similar ways. The only thing that gives me solace is God’s character and activity throughout all of time, not just in a moment of time.
What does scripture say? His ways are higher than my ways, his thoughts are higher than my thoughts. A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Which simply means, we don’t know his ways, his whys, or his timing, but we still declare, “I trust in you and not in my circumstance.” You promised to rescue and redeem and I will stand on the fact that you cannot lie. I don’t know how you are or when you are, but I believe that you will.

Write out this declaration and place it somewhere visible this week: "I do not know how. I do not know when. But I believe You will. I trust You, and not my circumstances."
Take a moment with this song as an encouragement for walking out this truth this week. God You're So Good