Monday, June 27, 2022

Genesis 6:5-8

Genesis 6:5-8

  Anyone who's ever seen my art can tell you that I'm not much of an artist.  When I was 5, I made a pretty solid turkey using just my hand and some paint.  That was probably the high point.  Everything since then has lacked.... a lot.  
  But if I were an artist, and make something beautiful, I'd grieve to see it destroyed.  Imagine being a painter and watching someone throw your painting into a fire, sobbing as the paint melted and the flames ate away at the canvas.  Imagine being a sculptor and witnessing someone destroying a piece with a hammer, breaking off the fingers and toes that you labored over those many hours.  
  If you can imagine this, you can relate to the grief God experiences as humanity destroys itself, devouring one another as we compete for power and status, yet no one is winning as we all lose.  The tears we must make God cry are surely heavy with grief.
  Such is the love of God that we are not destroyed, and yet rather saved.  God reaches down, God reaches out, and in the midst of grief, finds something to love.  It reminds me of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane -- all he asked of the disciples was that they might stay awake and pray with him, and yet they instantly fall asleep.  Rather than criticize however, he compliments, saying their spirits are willing and yet their flesh is weak.  
  God's always seeing the best in us, even when we cannot see it ourselves. In the midst of our brokenness, friends, there is reason to hope, because of the indomitable love that God has for us!

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