"I Will Remember My Covenant"

 

Genesis 9:8-17

 

    While Jean and I were in Nashville I bought a copy of The Message.  It is the Bible written in contemporary language.  I have found that it does make the scriptures more readable but I have to admit that at times something is lost in the translation.  For example, reading about Noah's ship doesn't have the same impact as Noah's ark.  The word for ark is used only one other place in the Bible and that is in Exodus, talking about the basket made of bulrushes that baby Moses was placed in when he was found by Pharoah's daughter.  The word for ark connects Noah with Moses in a way that the word ship does not.  In Exodus the author describes the care that was taken in preparing the basket to keep it from leaking.  It is God starting over again.  Moses is the new Noah.  In one story God's future is dependent on a six hundred year old man building an ark that is eight times bigger than this sanctuary.  In the other story God's future is dependent on a baby in a fragile basket being left in the reeds by his mother.   

 

     I think we often have this romantic view of the story of Noah and the ark.  We make up songs about the animals entering the ark by twosies and coming out in threesies and foursies.  In reality, the story begins as a tragedy.  We are exposed to pictures of war every day on television.  War is horrifying.  This story of the flood is every bit as horrifying.  Powerful waters raging, homes being destroyed, bodies floating everywhere.  Yes, there is a floating ark but around it there is destruction everywhere. 

 

      According to Genesis 6:5 "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

If I were to read that and didn't realize it was talking about the days of Noah, I might have thought it was talking about today.  And we are told that the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, it grieved him to his heart.  This is about the anguish of God. 

My guess is that the heart of God continues to grieve.  We give God a lot more reason to grieve than to rejoice.

 

      Parents did you ever have a day when you were sorry you brought your child into the world.  That would be a bad day, wouldn't it?  About the worst kind of day you could have.  That was the kind of day God was having.  God was ready to throw his hands up in the air and give up on this creation that God had called good.  The good news is that God is not one to give up.  Praise the Lord that God's grace is more powerful than our sin.  Out of all of the people God chooses one man to work through.  His name was Noah.  And he was given one of the strangest tasks in the Bible.  Build an ark in Dead Man's Gulch. At least that was my impression of the Holy Land when I was there in 1977.  Building an ark there would be about the same as building an ark here in Kingsport in my front yard that is brown from lack of rain.  Or in the middle of Kansas.  When we were on the Youth Mission Trip three years ago we stopped to see the six-legged steer in Kansas.  It was a tourist trap.  That's about the only use you could make of a 450 foot ark in an arid land. 

 

       While there is a lot of bad news in the story, misbehavior, death, destruction, the story does not end with bad news.  God wouldn't allow the sin of the people to overcome the creation that God called good.  God made a promise to the people.  There would be no more floods to destroy the earth.  And as a sign of this promise God set aside his bow of war and set it in the clouds.  Again we miss something in the new translation which talks about the rainbow.  In the Hebrew it is very clear that God is setting aside his

 bow or war.  It is a reminder of how important it is to have a sound theology.  One thing we don't have to worry about is God destroying the earth.  We can check that off of the list.  People might destroy it, but not God.  Every time we see the rainbow in the sky we are reminded that God has put down his bow.  God is working to save us, not destroy us. 

 

      The one part that is a little scary is that God was putting the rainbow in the clouds, not as a reminder for us but as a reminder for God.  I have not seen a rainbow in quite a while.  I hope God doesn't forget.

 

      The good news is that God chooses to act in a new way.  God chooses to be in relationship with this people.  They are not going to get any better.  God knows that.  Jacob will trick his father to receive the blessing before his brother Esau.  Aaron will be dancing around a golden calf.  David will look for ways to get Bathsheba's husband out of town.  Still God chooses to work with this people to save them rather than destroy them. 

 

      There will be pain.  God is willing to share that pain.  A couple planning to have children know that pain will be a part of it.  But they still choose to go ahead with it because they are willing to but up with the pain to be in the relationship. 

 

      The flood is a reminder that God has the power to destroy us.  The rainbow is a reminder that God will not do that again.  Along with the cross of Jesus, it is a reminder that God wants to be in relationship with us.  It is not only God's desire to save us when we die, it is God's desire to be in relationship with us right now.  The question is for us, is it our desire to be in relationship with God.  Are we living our lives in ways that affirm God's good creation or are we trying to make the world in our image?

 

       It would seem to me that if our desire is to be in relationship with God, it would be wise for us to look at the covenants that God has made with God's people.  Along with Jesus they give us some clues as to what God's will is and how we can respond as God's people.       

       

        This story of the ark reminds me of something the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth.  "The foolishness of God is wiser than people, and the weakness of God is stronger than people."  It seems pretty foolish to have a six-hundred year old man build a 450 foot ark.  God seems to be very weak if God allows His son to die on a cross. 

 

        Maybe the real question is who are we listening to?  Are we trying to recreate the world in our image like the people of Noah's time, are we modeling our lives after the people who put Jesus to death on the cross, or are we paying attention to the God who will do whatever it takes to save us, the God who spoke through Isaiah saying "My steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed."