The Root of Our Problems

Just gonna write insights God gives me in my daily devotions on this blog. I wanna get through the whole Bible, for real this time! (I've tried sooo many times to read through the whole Bible =P) Every bit of Scripture is inspired by God, and I want to read through the whole thing and see what He has to say to me.

I read Genesis Chapter 7 today, along with the notes in the NKJV study bible. It's about Noah and the Flood. The state of the world at that point was absolutely heartbreaking -

"Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart." -Genesis 6:5

I mean, gee whiz! Every single thought was evil - no one even accidentally have a nice thought, ever! It's so different from what God had hoped for, who He had made humans to be. Humans took His image and dragged it through the mud. So God moved to the next part of the story - He started over.

"So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive." -Genesis 7:23

He showed such grace on humanity to start over with what was already spoiled with sin. I don't understand why He did it. Even though Noah was righteous in God's eyes, he and his family carried a sinful nature that we would all inherit -

"...Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done." Genesis 8:21

What struck me was that God starting over knowing things would degenerate again; isn't it the same when a Christian repents? Even though we are starting over, our sin lovingly blotted out by God, our sin nature is still there. The root of the problem has yet to be resolved. But we have a hope, a confident expectation -

"Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." -2 Peter 3:13

When God comes and makes everything new at the end of the age, He'll take away our sin nature and we can have perfect fellowship with God in righteousness. A more complete new beginning than the Flood brought. I'm really, really looking forward to it. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Amen : )