SCRIPTURE: Genesis 9
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
(Read my reflection from 2008)
I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. [Genesis 9:9-11]
Once again I am thinking about how a loving God can send a flood on a world He loves.
God is not a beast, a cruel and heartless ogre, so how could He endure the flood, and all the suffering it brought?
Of course, was that suffering any worse than the suffering He endured watching sinful, cruel and immoral humans wreak devastation and misery in the world.
No matter what, His world was marred by devastation and misery; like shooting a wounded horse, it could even be considered “putting us out of our misery”.
We need to see the flood, and all other examples of His justice, in light of His overriding love for creation and humanity.
His covenant here reminds us that this is what He really wants more than anything else.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [John 3:16]
I am returning to this passage again because it shows us how far He goes to help us.
For God so loved the world that He destroyed His own Son with the flood of His judgment so that humanity would not be destroyed but be restored to life.
The flood did not eliminate sin, and the world did not become better as a result.
But God did show us through the flood both the seriousness of sin and our desperate need for God and His help.
The flood is a picture of the justice that is deserved; the cross is the picture of that justice unleashed on our behalf.
Instead of destroying us with the flood of His judgment, He destroyed Jesus…
And yet because Jesus is God in the flesh, not even eternal judgment could destroy Him; He survived it and beat the devil, He destroyed the devil’s work [1 John 3:8].

This world will go through the fire of judgment, but it will not be destroyed.
At the end of the day, there will be a new and renewed creation, and we will once again enjoy life in this world with God and one another, as He originally intended.
This is everlasting life, it is life in this world with God and each other!
Paradise restored!
This is what God is working for, this is what we are living for and waiting for.
And we have His promise, He will not destroy us and the world – Jesus took that for us.
We may suffer, we will die, we may get sick, our bodies may decay, but because Jesus removed the curse, we will not be destroyed, we will survive!
We have His promise!
I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! [Job 19:25-27]

PRAYER:
Lord, remind me every day of Your promise – nothing can separate me from Your love. I will one day stand with You in eternity. How my heart yearns within me!