Grief is something no one wants to go through yet often is a familiar place to be. It can surprise us when it comes, sometimes catching us off guard years after we’ve moved on from the situation. But there’s something almost comforting in the tears… the quietness… the memories.
Corruption of sin instituted grief. It’s the awareness that life shouldn’t be this way. We’re missing something. An ache of the void of constant joy. But grief is also healthy in a sense. It causes us to look for the source of comfort and joy that can fill us once again. This solution for these may strangely begin for you in today’s reading:
“When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved. Then the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.” Genesis 6:5-7
Man rejected their Creator when they signed their allegiance to the enemy. They began worshipping themselves and their desires over caring about God’s to the point that their rebellion led to a cry of justice to be served. Judgment had to come to bring order and everything good back into alignment. The Ancient Serpent, the Devil, was only made “prince of the earth,” but ownership still belonged to Creator God. He is the King of all Kings. This wasn’t easy for God though. He didn’t delight in having to do this. It deeply grieved Him! It grieved Him that sin had corrupted the earth. It grieved Him that man chose to turn away from Him again and again! It grieved Him that man’s authority corrupted the animals and the earth to the point that all needed to punished.
Matthew Henry said this about Genesis 6:7, “None are destroyed by the justice of God except those who hate to be reformed by the grace of God.”
It is hard to imagine, but try to picture God grieving for a moment. Deeply grieving. What happens when you and I ponder this? It gives us a small exposure to the heart of God. He loved His creation! They were made good in His sight until sin’s infiltration in man’s heart and them being a part of the family of the Father of Lies caused rebellion and rejection of God. This caused Him great sorrow! Though judgment needed to be administered, the LORD held to the promise He made to man after the curse of sin began; a promise He held dear to His heart, even though man did not:
“I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:15
Judgment was coming to man in Noah’s time but greater judgment would come to the one who tempted man in the first place. God’s wrath would be temporarily delivered to the earth by way of a flood. God’s eternal wrath would come thousands of years later when He would send His One and Only Son to the earth to be the sacrifice man needed to break free from the curse of sin and death, and from the claws of the enemy. Though the justice of God is so difficult to observe in chapter 6, we cannot deny the love, grace, and mercy of God as we look from the curse of sin, to the flood, and all the way to the cross. God promised man that an offspring would come who would crush the head of the enemy. God is unchanging. He is faithful in all He does, and He holds firm to His promises. So, what did He do to bridge the gap in the people’s reality in Genesis 6? He gave grace/favour to one man who had faith in Him.
“Noah, however, found favor with the Lord… Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6:8-9)
God loves relationship. He is the Three-In-One (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). He is content in His own community within Himself. And because He knows the beauty of this, and His nature is generous, He made people to join in relationship with Him. Having faith in the Lord, Noah experienced the love and grace of God in finding sweet fellowship with Him. This meant in joy and purpose, and also in His grief.
“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness. God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth. Then God said to Noah, ‘I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside. This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within eighteen inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.
Understand that I am bringing a flood—floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. You are also to bring into the ark two of all the living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of everything—from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from the animals that crawl on the ground according to their kinds—will come to you so that you can keep them alive. Take with you every kind of food that is eaten; gather it as food for you and for them.’” (Genesis 6:11-21)
God shared His hurt and His coming judgment with Noah. He shared His plans to deliver him and his family, along with a remnant of animals and birds. Though I’m sure this would have brought Noah relief in a sense, I cannot imagine the magnitude of grief that also swept over him! Everything he knew would be gone. Other than his immediate family, all of his relatives would perish. Animals destroyed. The place where he lived, worked, and worshipped – gone. He would soon live in a large ship for an undetermined amount of time and eventually maybe find dry land again in some unknown area, and have to rebuild life all over again.
This grief wouldn’t have just affected Noah either. What about his family? All of his daughters-in-law’s families would be destroyed! How would he explain that to them? Can you imagine the faith they would have needed to get on the ark?
“And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.” (Genesis 6:22)
In intimate relationships, we share our hearts with one another. Abiding in the Lord allows us to come into sweet communion with Him. It’s in time in His Word and prayer that we can understand the Lord, hear His heart, His plans, and know the steps He wants us to take, which will lead to faith and courageous obedience in Him. It’s not always easy. Life on earth and everything in it is temporary. People will change. Our circumstances will change. Our health will change. Our finances will change. At times these will tank and at others they will thrive. But there’s one relationship, one place, one treasure we can hold firm to that will never ever change and that’s the Lord.
Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.” God understands our sorrows. He, too, has experienced it. Considering He is also joy, peace, and grace at all times, He is also our hope. He is never stuck in grief because He understands the future. He sees what is ahead and as stated in Hebrews 12:2, Jesus looked “to the joy set before Him,” where His followers will be joined together with Him in the New Kingdom. There, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.
Then the one seated on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new.’ He also said, ‘Write, because these words are faithful and true.’” (Revelation 21:4-5) What glorious, assuring hope we can hold onto!
Though sin instituted grief and we still experience it in our lives, we have a God who understands it completely and meets with us in it. He holds our hearts dear to Him and is waiting with joyous anticipation for our arrival home. Grief reminds us that we aren’t there yet, but it is coming soon to those who have their faith in Jesus Christ. And there is coming a day when grief will end for good!
To anyone reading this who doesn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please write us. We would love nothing more than to share with you the everlasting hope that can only be found in Him and the gift of eternal life He’s waiting to give you. Though temporary judgment has come, eternal judgment is still coming, and His desire, along with mine, is that none should perish. There’s always hope as long as this earth exists. Don’t wait another day.
