Genesis 9:8-17
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
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This is such a familiar story to all; one of the Bible’s greatest hits! God tells Noah to build an ark, to load on a male and a female of each animal, God sends a flood, wipes out everything on earth except for who and what are on the ark. God then creates the rainbow as a sign of their commitment to us and their commitment to never again flood the earth. God loves us and there is a bright side to every storm. On the surface, it’s a great story that inspired many a children’s Sunday School song…where else do you get to say the word kangaroosies?
However, to understand this story in more depth, we have to go back further into Genesis. Genesis goes quickly from the creation to people sinning; hang on to your hats! Chapters 1 and 2 are the creation stories, Chapter 3 is the serpent and the first sin, and in Chapter 4, Cain murders Abel. Whew! Chapter 5 gives us a brief “sin break” while the lineage from Adam to Noah is recited. Chapter 6 tells us about the heartbreak of God with their creation. Genesis 6: 5-6 states: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great on the earth, and that every inclination of the thought of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved his to his heart.” There is so much sin and disharmony in the world God created. God is not angry; they are truly pained and heartbroken by the state of creation. God decides to bring the flood, not as an act of anger or revenge, but as a way to renew and recreate the world…a creation do-over. The flood happens and, in this passage, God is re-establishing creation and a making a covenant with Noah and future generations. I think that the implication is that, matter our sin, God will reach out and seek us in ways, short of a flood, to invite us into communion and harmony with God and all of creation.
Prayer: Lord, Help me to be in harmony with all that you have created.
—Lori Thomson