People often wonder why I would destroy My creation. When I spoke the world into place it was good. I made it so. I created humankind in My image in several ways:
– Humankind has the freedom to choose right from wrong
– Humankind has creative power
– Humankind can reason
– Humankind has dominance over every other part of creation
– I made humankind with an immortal spirit. Your spirit will never die!

Everything I did for humankind was very good. But in giving humankind the freedom to choose, man also could choose to defy me and his ego did not want to take second place to Me, his creator. And so, Satan enticed man to disobey my command and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

From that day until the flood, men and women continued to choose to elevate themselves rather than Me. They continued to worship the created instead of the Creator. I allowed them to choose, but from the first sin, they chose wrongly thinking they knew best. They didn’t.

My most noble creation decided to follow their own path and ran from Me. They failed to listen to Adam and Cain and those who had gone before them and learned the painful lessons sin brought into life as a result of disobedience to My plan for them.

One person pleased Me in all of humankind. Noah. He did it simply. It wasn’t always easy for him in the community in which he lived. He often felt the sting of humiliation at the hands of his neighbors. Others misunderstood him and ridiculed him for his actions. Many mistook his kindness and assistance to those in need as weakness. Often others took advantage of his gentle, humble spirit. Noah never had much in the way of material goods, but his heart was large. Everyone in the community knew Noah, at least by reputation.

How did Noah please Me? Simply by doing what I asked of him. Noah listened to Me and did everything I asked him to do. That’s it. Pleasing Me isn’t complex. In fact, it’s very simple. As I mentioned, it isn’t always easy in the society and culture you live in. You, like Noah, will face ridicule, hardship, maybe humiliation, even persecution. But doing what I ask you to do will always result in something so much better than what you could imagine.

Ready – Luke 4:1-30
Set – Genesis 9; Luke 4
Go – Genesis 9-11; Luke 4
Genesis 6
As human beings began to multiply and spread across the surface of the earth as God commanded, they had lovely daughters. 2 The sons of God saw how beautiful the humans’ daughters were, and they decided to take any daughters they wanted as their wives.

Eternal One: 3 My life-giving Spirit will not sustain human beings forever because they are, after all, made of flesh. Therefore, I will put a limit on their lifespan of about 120 years.

5 The Eternal One saw that wickedness was rampaging throughout the earth and that evil had become the first thought on every mind, the constant purpose of every person. 6-7 At that point God’s heart broke, and He regretted having ever made man in the first place.

Eternal One: I know what I’ll do. I will wipe humanity, My special creation, from the face of the earth—humans, animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I ever made them.

8 But there was one person whom the Lord could not let go of—Noah—because this man pleased Him.

9 Here is the account of Noah and his descendants. Noah was a good man, a right-living man, the best man of his generation; and he walked closely with God. 10 Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11-12 They lived at a time when the world had become vile and corrupt. Violence was everywhere. God saw that the earth was in ruins, and He knew why: all people on earth except Noah had lived corrupt lives and ruined God’s plans for them. He had to do something.

Eternal One (to Noah): 13 Noah, I have decided to wipe out all the living creatures I have made because they are spreading violence throughout the earth. Watch! I will destroy them with the earth. 14 I want you to build an ark. Build it out of cypress wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with tar. 15 Here’s how you will do it: build the ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 Put a roof on the ark and leave a gap of 18 inches below the roofline for air to circulate. Put the door of the ark in its side, and build it with lower, middle, and upper decks. 17 Look! I am going to unleash a torrent and flood the earth to destroy all flesh under the heavens which breathes the breath of life. Everything that is on the earth will die.

18 But I will make a pact with you, Noah—a covenant agreement. To survive, you and your family—you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives—must go into the ark. 19 And, out of all the living creatures I have made, you must bring two of each kind into the ark with you, to keep them alive. Bring one male and one female of each kind. 20 Bring all kinds of birds, all sorts of animals, and all varieties of creatures that creep on the ground in pairs, so that each species will survive. 21 Also, you must bring food with you. Bring every kind of food that may be eaten, and store it all inside the ark. That way, you and all of the creatures will have enough food to eat.

22 So Noah listened to God, and he built the ark. He did everything God asked him to do.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.