BECAUSE OF ONE RIGHTEOUS MAN

As I sit here this morning listening to the rain falling outside my window, it is appropriate that I am going to be talking about when the Lord flooded the earth. But, that is not what I had intended today’s post to be about. I had intended to write about Peer Pressure but the Lord had other plans. I try to pay attention to cues that I might be given through the week and I thought I had picked up on one but then when I read my morning devotional it came clear to me that what I needed to talk about was something different.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I had received a wonderful gift from a blog reader friend and that it was a journal. It is called Write The Word and these journals are available with different topics in mind. The one that I received is on Faith. My section of the Bible highlighted to read today was Genesis 6: 5-7

⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”

The Lord saw

This was not an uplifting few verses to read. The first thing that jumped out at me was that the Lord “saw.” He knew,  He saw, there is no hiding our deeds from the Lord, He sees all. We can hide what we do from our neighbors and friends but we can not hide from His all knowing and all seeing eyes.

Every Inclination

“That every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil.” I am just like most of you and I have to admit that I sometimes have thoughts in my heart that aren’t pure. I hate to say evil because maybe that is what they are. I can hold a grudge against someone. I can find glee in the fact that they didn’t win or achieve something if they had wronged me in some way. I don’t wish death or destruction on them but I might not wish them success either. This may not be “evil” but it is still not right. However, the Lord said EVERY inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was ONLY evil. Whew! I don’t think that I fall into THAT category. Can you imagine? Every thought, no thoughts that were ever for good? Their hearts only knew EVIL!!! The rest of that verse continues with, ALL THE TIME. Every thought was only for evil all the time!

Regretted and Troubled

The Lord regretted that HE had “made” human beings on the earth, and HIS heart was “deeply” troubled. This is only chapter 6 in the book of Genesis. A few chapters earlier the Lord had made man and was “VERY” pleased. Now, He regretted ever making man, ever breathing life into the dust, ever making man in His image, and His heart was deeply troubled. I wish that I could say that the Lord never regretted making me and I wish that I had never given the Lord reasons to trouble His heart. But, the truth is that I don’t know the answer to that question. I do know that when I look at my own children that I can say that I have never “regretted” being a part of their creation. I can not say that they have never “troubled” my heart.

Wipe From the Face of the Earth

Woah! This is completely different from being disturbed and troubled. The Lord wanted a fresh slate, a do-over. He looked into the hearts of EVERYONE and found them to be evil. He wanted to wipe them off the face of the earth. Can you imagine the pain that He must have felt? He not only wanted to wipe man from the earth but He was willing to wipe out all of the animals and the birds and all of the creatures that crawl on the ground.

We know what happened next. There was one man, Noah, who found favor in the Lord’s eyes. One man who walked with the Lord. The Lord saved Noah and his wife, his sons, and their wives. He saved at least 2 of each animal when he instructed Noah to build the Ark and to bring them onboard with him. One man, one righteous man, saved our world.

The world around us might seem like it is beyond help at times. I know that I find myself thinking that the world is corrupt, evil and that the Lord regrets ever creating it. And then I think of Noah. Do I know of good people in this world? YES! The world might have lost a good man this past week when Billy Graham passed away but there are others. When the world seems too full of evil we need to be the ones who light the way for others. We need to let the light of the Lord shine in us.

Matthew 5:16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Yes, it is still raining but the Lord has promised to never flood the earth again. Instead of worrying about the world and the things that I can not control, I will be on the lookout for his promises of a rainbow.

Have A Blessed Day!