Gleanings – Love Beyond Comprehension
Genesis 6:1-8
“And the Lord was sorry that he made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”
Can you blame him? I mean in our heart of hearts, can we blame him for being disappointed in the outcome, the consequences of us exercising our freedom. Not really. Well, knowing depravity, probably but surely not for very long?!
My parents were disappointed in B’s when I could have earned A’s. How much more God must be disappointed given that we broke His marvelous creation! Nothing that is made works the way it is supposed to all the time. I do not see cancer and tsunamis in the Garden. Now we have them. Face it, we trashed bliss and abundant provision. We got ground that is hard to till, labor pain and mortality instead. Our choice. Our fault. And oh how we like to blame him for the freedom he gave us. But it was necessary to be human. Without freedom to obey or rebel, we would be nothing more than robots executing code. Nope. Our fault and who can blame God for being disappointed.
But it is that reality that makes grace indescribable, even amazing. How do we account for such love that he would continue to pursue us and woo us back to him under the power of the Holy Spirit? And toward what end? Restoring the image or likeness that was there before we rebelled. There is some hint even the creation will be renewed. Meanwhile, it is abundantly clear our fallen image can be and now. There is only one love like that. That is why we call his answer to our rebellion Good News.