REPEATING THE PAST?

"The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 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. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God." Genesis 6:5-9

From Adam to Noah, ten generations of man had walked God’s created earth and sin had continued to manifest itself in the hearts of men and women. Our scripture today shares that "the Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." This upset God to the point that He "grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain."

Now consider these main points for just a moment. Great wickedness on the earth. Man consumed with evil thoughts. God’s heart filled with pain. Now think about the world we live in today. If it doesn’t bring you some degree of concern, it should. I can’t help but feel that God’s heart is hurting again in the way things are happening on the earth He created. Too many people are not familiar with the scriptures and God’s almighty power to include judgment if necessary. The first human beings certainly found out about it.

For God wasn’t about to allow rampant wickedness and sinfulness to consume His creation. God speaks out in our scripture saying, "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." The pain that God feels in His heart over the way His creation has turned out has led Him to grieve that He ever created them in the first place. So He decides to "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." In other words, hit the reset button. Things aren’t looking good for man at this point.

Question: How do you think things are looking for us today? Is it not possible that God could decide to hit the reset button again as He did back in Genesis? If you doubt it, go back through Revelation and the coming return of Jesus and see if it is not something that could come at anytime. Bad things were ahead for early man in Genesis. God was about to rain on their sinful parade in a big way but He decided to not totally wipe out everything. His mercy would come through a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time…a man named Noah, who had "found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

In God, we find power, we find majesty, and we find love but we also find heartfelt pain, grief, and judgment if needed. We should never forget the mistakes of the past or else we could see a repeat of God’s actions in the future.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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