Genesis 8:20-22 — And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth: neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
It’s easy to miss the astounding nature of God’s promise.
In determining never again to curse the ground and destroy every living thing God determines to limit the exercise of His power, and tolerate man’s misdeeds — knowing full well that they will happen. In fact, He gives as His reason what we might very well expect to be a cause of His anger.
“I know”, God says, “that there is a seed of evil in every man. He cannot be anything but wicked. Instead of destroying him, I will woo him. I will draw him to me by the continued and reliable pouring out of blessings.”
God doesn’t just say it. He determines it in His heart. It is not evident in the scripture, and understanding how such a think could be is beyond me, but somehow I believe the three persons of the Trinity communed with each other and agreed this decree.
I believe there are deep truths underlying this wonderful decree. I’m not at all sure that I can do them justice.
One is that when God created man, He made room for us. Before the creation (more strictly, I suppose, before Satan’s fall) there was only God’s perfection. When God made man, He made room for man with all His weaknesses. It was an extraordinary surrender of absolute control.
The second is that man’s love for God, of which Noah’s sacrifice is a prime example, calls forth God’s forbearance and love for man.
If I am right in believing that God has in some sense withdrawn from occupying the whole of His rightful possession so that man may have his place, and that our slightest expression of love calls forth His great mercy, what might be our proper response?
We can surely only respond to God’s willingness to give us place and to treat our willfulness with mercy with a deep humility and repentance. How could we assert our rights, in the face of such forgiveness, how could we make any claim of righteousness.
Jesus took His place as a servant, and washed the feet of His disciples. No wonder He said “So the last shall be first, and the first last”! So must we.