(Thoughts after PS, teaching elder at Sojo’s church, led us into Noah’s life in Genesis 8 & 9)
600 years strong, N
oah was.
His “right” heart before God kept God from wiping out the whole race in his fury. (Gen. 6:7,8) Noah was a rock! He diligently obeyed for many years while withstanding ridicule & opposition, then weathered the terror of the flood.
Fast forward to the rainbow (Oh the bliss of this glorious thought!) depicting the unconditionally loving, utterly merciful, personal, 2nd chance-giving God of ours! Even when He knew those on earth would blow it again, His faithful love dictated that he make a way to really be right (eventually through the only Right One – Jesus).
But the insight we discovered together was the contrast in Noah’s stance before and after the rainbow. His fear of the Almighty One kept him from swaying as he built the ark and preached apocalypse to his jeering contemporaries. The fear of the catastrophic power of the God who brought the flood could have paralyzed him as he again stepped down onto dry ground. So the rainbow’s promise must have brought astounding relief for him and his family.
But, things were not all rosy after the rainbow. God’s word doesn’t hide the sin of the man whom God had called “righteous and blameless”. He’s found shamefully drunken… resulting in ruinous impact on his family for generations…
Did Noah lose his sense of purpose after the flood… and his alertness when there were no opponents hounding him? Could the fledgling remnant of humanity have fallen prey to more subtle, inner temptations of “self, home and the menial”? The confusing scene after the rainbow seems to scream a warning about the fragile human condition where inner temptations may actually outweigh outer ones.
The rainbow points to the Right One who walks alongside us in our sin, and kindly brings us to repentance again and again to make our hearts right. And we need that as much “at home” as “on the job” – maybe more! – When our guard is down and there’s not a big accomplishment we’re reaching for… when it’s down to the menial things of life.
“What would our house say about us?” …The place where we’re off duty and not on display building our arks?
That’s where we need the fear of God in us even more – for our good and protection! The inner temptations are more subtle and insidious, so our vigilance and our open ears to the Right One need to be alerted and strengthened.
As Brennan Manning puts it: [Accepting the gospel of grace]
“…means hanging in there with God, learning our mind tricks by experiencing how they defeat us, recognizing our avoidances, acknowledging our lapses, learning completely that we cannot handle it ourselves. This steady self-confrontation requires strength and courage. We cannot use failure as an excuse to quit trying.” The Ragamuffin Gospel, p. 86
There’s a rainbow for your soul today – pointing to the promise of Jesus who saves us from ourselves, from the wrath of God….and from giving in to defeat.
What part of your heart needs that rainbow today?