So, in reading through Genesis over the past week, it become rather sad to see humanity go downhill so fast. I’ve always wondered how long adam was in the garden before eve came along, and then how much time they actually had together before they decided to do their own thing and got booted out. were they there for a few weeks, a few years? it doesn’t make any difference on this side of things, but i’m just curious how long we were able to hang in there, and what life without sin must have been like for them. were they semi-luminescent like moses was due to their proximity to God on a regular basis? did they slowly watch that brilliance leave their bodies after they were exiled? was that a painful reminder along with the curses they brought on themselves? did they ever realize that God was protecting them by taking them away from the tree of life?  i would love to have some more narrative from them. there are questions i want to ask, but cannot, because there is no allowance for that in the text. the Scriptures are not imperfect because of this, of course not, but my curiosity remains. i want to know these things, but i guess i’ll just have to wait until i meet God face to face to ask those questions. i would really like to be able to watch events happen in real time so we can see God at work in different eras of our history with Him.

but today i got up to mid chapter 6 written out, and we’re now dealing with the total depravity of man and the corruption of the earth. throw in some nephilim and “sons of God” and you have an odd mix going on in this point of our existence. and again, more questions to ask. i know moses spent most of the last third of his life busy with people and writing, but i would really have loved to had more info here. but again, this is not a problem with God or the Scriptures. He has filled us in on what He knows we can handle, and on what is truly relevant. would i like to know about the nephilim, and who they were specifically? yes of course. would i like to hear some of those stories about “the heroes of old, men of renown” goodness, yes. but those stories are not relevant to what is happening with humanity. we had reached a point of utter depravity. our every inclination and thought of our hearts was evil. and it was so much so, that we caused God’s heart to ache, and He grieved our very existence and creation. that is the point here.

we were breaking God’s heart.

He will not force us to love Him. He will not force us to return to Him. because forced love is no love at all, but fear. and scripture tells us that perfect love casts out fear. God is not going to scare us into loving Him, or following His heart’s desire for our lives. so, in His grief, he commands Noah to start construction on mankind’s biggest project ever. a physical representation of grace and mercy. huge to our sight and perception, but tiny in comparison to God’s love for us. if His love wasn’t so enormous, He wouldn’t have grieved at our depravity. He would have been indifferent, or calloused.

but we were hurting Him…causing Him great pain.

it’s hard to comprehend hurting Him sometimes. He is so big, so mighty, He knows all, sees all and occupies every point in our universe at once, and there still isn’t enough room for Him. time cannot contain Him, He fills eternity. so how can tiny, finite, weak, men do Him any kind of harm?

His love for us, His desire for our well being, His longing for us to turn to Him and give our lives over to Him is so great, and so deep, and so long suffering that everything we do, every thought we think, and every word from our mouth that is misguided, selfish, prideful, hateful, lust ridden, or disrespectful drives straight to His heart. He wants so much for us, and we shoot Him down to meet our own desires.

that is why He decided to start over. that is why the flood would come. that is why humanity had already signed it’s own death sentence. people ask how a loving God could do something like this. and my thought is how could He do anything but this? to continue to let us go down that path away from Him and from real life would have been an act of greatest contempt and disdain.

the author of herews wrote this, and is right on track:

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ” 12:11

it is painful to think that God had to go to this extent to discipline us, but now we must be trained by it so that harvest of righteousness can come about, and bring peace with it – all the while bringing glory to God who loves us so much.