Glad That’s Over With

You’ve probably uttered that phrase a few times; perhaps after a trip to the dentist or the doctor? Or perhaps after a visit by the in-laws?   It’s nice when a difficult time in our lives is finished. In Genesis 8 we read of Noah, his family and the animals getting out of the ark. If you put the timeline together from chapters 7 and 8 you will note that the inhabitants of the ark were in the ark for slightly over one year. Growing up I had always assumed that 40 days and 40 nights was the time but in reality it was over one year…which makes much more sense considering a world wide flood. But my focus today is what God says after the ark is emptied. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. These verses are interesting in many ways, one of which I’ll focus on now.

God says that He will never curse the ground again, “although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth”. That’s a very interesting and theologically profound statement. God knew that an event as devastating as the flood wasn’t enough to change the heart of man. Even when Noah’s grandchildren, great-grandchildren and so on heard of the story of the flood, it wouldn’t be enough to change their hearts. Transformation comes from the inside, not the outside. We all know people who have hit rock bottom and just stayed “bottomed out”.   Situations might get our attention and can even change behavior somewhat, but the heart of man is not changed by events, but is changed only by a Savior. That Savior is foreshadowed in this chapter by Noah’s offering of animal sacrifices as the first act of worship that is done when he leaves the ark.