Never Again

Read Genesis 8:1-22

Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.” –Gen 8:15-17

Noah had been locked up in his ark for 370 days, more than a full year. Imagine that! The ark had withstood a storm greater than any in the history of the earth. It had been a sanctuary, an island of security and safety amidst a vast expanse of water. Quarters may have been cramped, and life may have been inconvenient on the ark, since Noah had to share that space with all the remaining animals of the land. But it was known and familiar. There was a daily routine to life–to tending to all the life that the ark contained. There was a whole lot in the world that Noah was not in control of, but at least on that ship, Noah was the captain of his world.

And then God commanded him to step out of the ark.

The ark had come to rest on top of Mount Ararat six months prior to this moment. Noah had watched from the deck as the waters receded—around the eighth month after the storm began, the tops of surrounding mountains became visible. Forty days after that, Noah sent out a dove to search for land. The dove found nowhere it could perch and returned to Noah. So Noah waited another week. The second time Noah sent out the dove, it returned to him with a branch in its mouth—a sign that at least the tops of the trees were showing. When Noah sent out the dove one week after that, it did not return. It had found a new home.

And yet Noah stayed inside the ark. Even though Noah could see that the ground surrounding the ark was dry, he remained inside the ark for fifty more days! Perhaps he was worried that if he released all the animals prematurely, he’d never be able to gather them again. Perhaps he was afraid to venture forth himself. Perhaps he was waiting for God to tell him it was OK.

When Noah at last exited the ark, he stepped into a new creation—a new possibility for life and flourishing. He and his children received the same command that Adam and Eve had once received: Steward the earth. Take care of its bounty. Be fruitful and multiply.

So Noah built an altar and dedicated himself and his family to the Lord. Then comes an interesting part: God made a covenant with Noah. God placed a rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise: Never again would God destroy the Earth in such a way. Rain might still fall, storms would certainly come, but the rainbow was a promise that there would always be a limit to those storms. The only thing without limit would be God’s promise to love and protect the earth.

You see, the Noah story tells us about an important threshold for God. God had been sorrowed by the brokenness of creation. God had witnessed great evil upon the face of the Earth, and God‘s first instinct was to start fresh, to wipe the slate clean and begin anew. But perhaps God already knew that Noah and his descendants would repeat the same cycle of evil, that humans would continue to grieve His heart and distort His creation. Perhaps God would be tempted again to wipe the slate clean and start again. So God made a promise. He crossed a threshold, and He put a sign in the sky to convey a simple message: Never again.

Someday God would indeed begin a new creation. But that new creation would not come through the destruction of the earth. That new creation would begin instead through the voluntary sacrifice of his son. And through the resurrection of His Son, God points us toward a future day when there will never again be violence and death upon the Earth.

Have you ever walked through a threshold that is marked by the sign: “Never again”? A time when you walked away from a person, place, or habit that was destroying your life? Have you ever hurt someone else and vowed never to make that mistake again? If so, know that you have some kinship with God in this story. Whenever we see a rainbow, we can remember our “never again” thresholds. And we can remember the promise that there is life and hope on the other side of never again.

O God, there are some seasons in my life that I never wish to revisit again. There are mistakes that I have promised never to repeat. Give me the strength I need to keep these vows, and give me wisdom to avoid the choices that would lead me backwards instead of forward into the new life that you offer. Amen.