Category: Rainbow

What do we do when we have a fruit platter with bad apples covered in fruit flies?  We take out the trash after setting aside the few apples unaffected by their rotten neighbors. And that’s exactly what happened with Noah’s generation. Desperate times call for desperate actions, but even so, the Lord was heartbroken and grieved over His spoiled creation (Genesis 6:6-8):

“The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply 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.” 

Here was Noah with his wife and children who lived a life different from the rest of the world. He walked with God, regardless what other people did or didn’t do. It must have been a lonely life. He probably didn’t have many friends outside the family circle. And if he did, then their bad influence would have caught up with him eventually. So God decided to separate him and his family from the bad apples around them. To give His creation another chance and to save land mammals from complete extinction, the world’s biggest life boat was constructed, aka Noah’s ark.

In case you’ve been going back and forth on the issue whether or not the big flood really happened and whether or not Noah’s ark is indeed a myth – would it make a big difference to you if somebody could prove that Noah’s Ark actually existed? Personally, I think it really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. What does matter is the message of the story; but maybe even the message of the story poses a problem – or how do you feel about God drowning a large amount of people and animals to purge the planet?

Let’s not forget that God leaves us with a rainbow of hope at the end of the story. God decided to reboot and start over instead of completely writing us off. Even as the majority of humankind was moving into the wrong direction, God still found a reason to believe in us. I find this very encouraging, especially in view of today’s crazy world.

God set a rainbow in the clouds so we’ll never forget: Our God is merciful! His love connects us. Heaven came to Earth when Jesus came along, and His heart is with us still today. He sticks closer to us than a brother, and most importantly: He does not give up on us!