Scripture Daily

Context No. 3133 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 6:1-8: in context

1When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 2God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. 3The LORD said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.” 4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 5The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil. 6The LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 7The LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8But Noah found favor in the LORD’s eyes.

As humanity multiplies, so does its wickedness, until the LORD sees that every intention of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil continually. And the response is not cold: the LORD was sorry that he had made man, and it grieved him to his heart. He resolves to blot out what he has made. But then five words break the darkness: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Two things pierce this passage. First, God's grief. The sin of the world is not met by an indifferent deity but by a God whose heart is wounded by it; human evil grieves God to the heart. And second, the weight of the diagnosis, every intention only evil continually, a total corruption before which judgment looms. And then, against all that darkness, comes hope: but Noah found favor. Even in a generation given wholly over to evil, grace finds one, and through that one, rescue for the world. Where sin abounds, grace still finds a foothold.

In a world where evil grieves the heart of God, do I live as one who "finds favor" through grace, and become a channel of rescue rather than corruption?

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