The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man, and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. (6:5–10)
“And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart” (6:7)—God has feelings, deep feelings, and that is one way that we are made in His image. Feelings are part of who we are, as God’s image-bearers. Many people think it is not quite right to have deep feelings, especially negative ones such as extreme grief, but that is a beautiful part of God’s design.
Note that even though every intention of the thoughts of every person’s heart was only evil continually (6:5), Noah was still able to be a righteous man blameless in his generation, walking with God (6:9). This encourages me so much! No matter how evil our world is—including people and governments saying that evil is good and good is evil—we, like Noah, can be righteous and walk with God. I need to remind myself of this regularly, so that I don’t lose heart at how dark our world is, and so that I can continually put one foot in front of the other, walking with God.
Prayer: Help me, Lord, not to be discouraged when I am surrounded by evil, when people despise You and Your Word, or even if they despise me for holding to You and Your Word. May you help me to continually walk with you. Thank you for the inspirational example of Noah. Amen.
