Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
Genesis 8:20-22
Any time there is a major disaster of any sort, inevitably there is one of three responses as it relates to God: 1) apathy, 2) anger, or 3) adoration. The apathetic response simply ignores God and acknowledges naturalistic or humanistic reason to whatever event occurs. The angry response blames God for either causing or allowing the event to occur. But the adoring response is a response of gratitude and recognition of God’s sovereignty in the midst of the chaos and destruction.
On September 11, 2001, shockwaves of all three emotions shattered the existence of the United States as we experienced the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, leading to the deaths of 2977 civilians. The apathetic, though few they may have been, continued to go about their day unfazed. The angry blamed God or vowed revenge upon the perpetrators or the governments or organizations of those responsible.
But there were those select few that stood in adoration – giving thanks that the tragedy wasn’t considerably worse than it could have been. The next day, I stood in prayer for the release of 12 missionaries being held captive in Afghanistan by the Taliban regime. Others stood in prayer for families of the victims who were left to mourn their loss. Others stood in prayer giving thanks for the heroes of the day that prevented further destruction and the heroes who served in the aftermath, seeking to rescue any that might be pulled from the wreckage.
As Noah and his family disembarked from the ark, their first response was not one of anger or apathy, but of humble adoration for the faithfulness of God who preserved humanity through these 8 human souls who had no righteousness of their own other than that imputed to them by God Himself as a result of the favor of God upon Noah. A heart of gratitude inevitably leads to a heart of worship; a heart of true worship begins with a heart of gratitude. And “pleasing aroma” of the sacrifice reached to the heavens and the Father makes an interesting observation.
“I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” (Genesis 8:21)
The word for curse here is “qalal”, which is different from the word for curse in Genesis 3:17, as the ground is cursed (“arrar”) in order to punish Adam with toil and make him have to work harder for his sustenance and the sustenance of his family. This word is more akin to the meaning of “dishonor” in which God is effectively saying that He would never again punish the ground or other animals on account of the sin of mankind.
Yet there is still a subtle warning of eventual finality in Genesis 8:22: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” The precursive clause “While the earth remains” subtly reminds us of the inevitability of an eventual end to the earth. Yet He doesn’t leave us without the promise of a new heaven and a new earth to be reborn from the ashes of our own self-destruction.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-4
The aftermath of the flood is written to be a foreshadowing of the future to come. Eventually the world as we know it will fade away, but we can rest secure in the comfort of the ark of Jesus Christ, beneath the covering of His atonement, paid in the price of His redeeming blood on our behalf for our sins. A new earth and a new heaven await those of us who trust in Him and life for Him. A new life is ready for you in the here and now as a result of His sacrifice.