"There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights."
Genesis 7:9-12
This was interesting to me today, reading that, at least seemingly, all the animals went into the ark and then it was still a full week before the waters came. Totally not saying that this was a bad thing... having a week adjustment so they could solve logistics problems before being confined long term sounds like an excellent idea, but when you were on dry ground and there was any doubt that the rains would come, it seems like just that much more of a test.
The whole idea of the flood is an interesting one as well. Kind of a reset button for life on earth, which didn't seems to be going so well. Similar starts and stops occur elsewhere in the scriptures (and other history) when one nation kills itself off to make space for another, or they are killed by the next group moving in, but this seems like the only time when it was a complete reset.
It's kind of hard to get inside God's head on things like this, since our perspective on death is very different. We typically haven't really internalized the concept of eternity, and death being temporary, so it is hard to think about what seems like a full stop of everything we are. Thinking about the creation though, God was evaluating things as he went along, seeing that it was good... so what happens when it all starts going bad? That possibility was necessary in order to give us free agency, but how do you manage evil without allowing it to overwhelm the good? I think it is like the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees starting in Jacob 5. Sometimes God has to do some pruning, but he is normally careful to "not clear away the bad thereof all at once" (Jacob 5:65). In this case, maybe the trees were all withering and all he could do to save them was to purge everything and replant.
I'm not suggesting that all weather related phenomenon or natural disasters are God punishing the wicked. There are many reasons God might call someone home. All I'm saying is, hey... let's try to make our world better and better and help God save people rather than being the blight, hurting everything around us. Let's be the reason God spares the city rather than the reason it needs to be destroyed. Let's spread light and not darkness, gathering together and weathering whatever storms we are faced with, because we are determined to help good triumph over evil.
And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights."
Genesis 7:9-12
This was interesting to me today, reading that, at least seemingly, all the animals went into the ark and then it was still a full week before the waters came. Totally not saying that this was a bad thing... having a week adjustment so they could solve logistics problems before being confined long term sounds like an excellent idea, but when you were on dry ground and there was any doubt that the rains would come, it seems like just that much more of a test.
The whole idea of the flood is an interesting one as well. Kind of a reset button for life on earth, which didn't seems to be going so well. Similar starts and stops occur elsewhere in the scriptures (and other history) when one nation kills itself off to make space for another, or they are killed by the next group moving in, but this seems like the only time when it was a complete reset.
It's kind of hard to get inside God's head on things like this, since our perspective on death is very different. We typically haven't really internalized the concept of eternity, and death being temporary, so it is hard to think about what seems like a full stop of everything we are. Thinking about the creation though, God was evaluating things as he went along, seeing that it was good... so what happens when it all starts going bad? That possibility was necessary in order to give us free agency, but how do you manage evil without allowing it to overwhelm the good? I think it is like the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees starting in Jacob 5. Sometimes God has to do some pruning, but he is normally careful to "not clear away the bad thereof all at once" (Jacob 5:65). In this case, maybe the trees were all withering and all he could do to save them was to purge everything and replant.
I'm not suggesting that all weather related phenomenon or natural disasters are God punishing the wicked. There are many reasons God might call someone home. All I'm saying is, hey... let's try to make our world better and better and help God save people rather than being the blight, hurting everything around us. Let's be the reason God spares the city rather than the reason it needs to be destroyed. Let's spread light and not darkness, gathering together and weathering whatever storms we are faced with, because we are determined to help good triumph over evil.
No comments:
Post a Comment