#DailyDevotion There’s A Reason We Like Looking At Trees
Lent Day 7 Wednesday
Read Gen 8:13—9:17
Gen 8:21 And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done…9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, (15) I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Here we see the kindness of God despite our sinfulness. Our true, fallen nature is told us here. If God did not reveal it to us, we would not believe it. He tells us, “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” The Lord is just repeating what he said a couple of chapters previously, “Gen 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” It is a rather bleak picture of man. This isn’t the only place the Scriptures speak like this. David writes, Psa 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” From the moment of conception we are sinful. Our every intention, our every desire is to do evil continually. The New Testament confesses the same thing. Paul tells us, Eph 2:3 “…we …were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Jesus doesn’t help our self-image either. He tells us, “Mat 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”
In God’s great kindness and love for us, he preserves mankind despite our sinfulness. He gives us a promise, a promise he doesn’t have to give. He promises he will never kill every creature on the earth, including mankind, like he did here in Genesis. He gives us a sign to look to whenever we may fear that, a rainbow. It is a sign of the covenant God has made with us that he will never flood the whole earth again.
The Lord has also given us another sign that he desires to be merciful to us. That sign is Jesus. As weird as it may seem, the sign of his love for us is Jesus hanging on a tree, on a cross. Jesus tells us, Joh 3:14-15 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, (15) that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Jesus lifted up is God’s sign of mercy to us. Whoever looks to Jesus’ cross and believes there God has made peace with us need not fear the wrath God when he destroys the earth again but with fire. 2 Pet. 3:7 Any time of day you think God has abandoned you because of your sin, look to a tree, a telephone pole, if you are desperate, any two intersecting lines and remember that God, in his great love for you, gave his son Jesus as a peace offering. He no longer counts your trespasses against you. God is please because of the aroma from the sacrifice of the cross.
Heavenly Father, give us always the faith to believe in your covenant of peace you made with us by Jesus’ crucifixion that our hearts may find comfort wherever we look and see the sign of the covenant of your great love for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.