Day 7
Broken Light
There are stormy days when the sky weeps. And days when God is grieving with it. Days when the darkness in humankind overcomes the light that once was us. How does God’s heart so full of love, so full of goodness, witness all this breaking sadness that has become His children’s reality, and not break also?
The thunder drum rolls and the lightning flashes and tears fall and fall and fall. If this stormy dark was all there was, our world would always be in flood.
But the darkness isn’t all there is.
As I write, this rain falls, gently, steadily outside. The grey clouds empty their grief on the earth. But their tears meet something else. A warm tropical sun breaks through, piercing the grey, all golden, all light. Like an unexpected grace.
Raindrops continue to free fall through the light, fragile prisms mingling, spraying through blazing rays. They dash themselves splashing on the grass below, all at once absorbed into the earth, all at once broken on the bricks of our verandah. So small, so frail, so weak. Who would have thought that tears so tiny could break anything as they break themselves apart.
But from the perspective of the valley beneath our home, these fragile tears are breaking blazing light, breaking brilliant light into a million tiny pieces. A million tiny pieces forming just one picture: the seven colours of the rainbow.
When the stormy darkness meets the blazing light, something entirely new is born.
A rainbow is broken light. And so are we.
In the beginning, the genesis of all things God said “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3) and there was. Light upon light upon light. Supernova star explosions pierced the dark, expelling it, flashing light, scattering star dust, forging all the elements required for life on earth1. All the building blocks of this spinning planet we stand on today were born in light, through light, by Light.
We, like our Heavenly Father, were born to live in light, alive in God’s light, seeing light (Psalm 36:9) being light (Matthew 5:14-16).
God had said “Let us make humankind in our image” (Genesis 1:26). And we were… for a while. But then the darkness fell, the light within us grew dim, and human kind has been falling like the rain ever since.
From before we began to write down time, light has been breaking, the light that once was us; and we drown in floods today, not of God’s making, but of the absence of Him in human hearts, the absence of wholeness; the emptiness within, creating pain, sorrow and darkness without. Broken light.
And this is where this chapter of our story begins.
In the dark.
“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Genesis 6:5
The story of Noah in the Old Testament begins with the story of this broken light; broken humanity breaking each other, breaking this world, breaking God’s heart.
And in the wake of breaking light, the shards fell to the ground in tears, tears that flooded the whole world with the grief of a God whose heart was broken. God’s heart full of light was full also of grief, grieving the darkness which dwelt now in humankind.
‘The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.’ Genesis 6:6
Regret. The author mentions it twice this regret of God (verses 6 and 7), perhaps so we will pause and hear, so we will linger and feel the heaviness in God’s words this day, the heaviness in His heart.
But words can be frail vessels within which to hold a meaning. Our English word ‘regret’ doesn’t hold the author’s intentions easily. When we regret, we wish we hadn’t done something. Our mind weaves visions of mistakes, of apologies, of backtracking and changing hearts.
But God’s heart for humanity has never changed. He has only ever and only still, wants full and flourishing life for us. The life He breathed into us in a garden long ago.
This word translated ‘regret’ relates most closely in our modern culture to an accounting realisation that the ‘books’ needed auditing2, or that a balance scale had tilted too far in the wrong direction.
The great human project had veered dangerously off course. Humankind had become corrupt and violent, wallowing in mud and forgetting the Breath that brought the mud to life.
Pause and hear, linger just a moment and feel the heaviness in God’s words this day, the heaviness in His heart. The weight of His world, broken, The pain of His creation, Falling.
‘The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.’ Genesis 6:6 NIV
God’s heart, ‘deeply troubled’, could equally be translated as ‘hurt’, ‘pained’ or grieved3. Other scripture translations say “his heart was filled with sorrow”(EHV), “his heart was filled with pain” (EXB), “He was grieved in His heart” (NKJV) or “It broke his heart” NLT.
There are stormy days when the sky weeps. And days when God is grieving with it. Days when the darkness in humankind overcomes the light that once was us. How does God’s heart so full of love, so full of goodness, witness all this breaking, broken sadness that has become His children’s reality, and not break also?
It does. Break.
However we choose to write it, whatever words we use to describe it, God’s grief over human brokenness is deep. It hurts. Because it was always personal to Him. We were personal to Him. Persons made in His image and likeness, His children breathing His breath, forgetting ourselves. Forgetting Him.
It hurt. His heart was deeply troubled. His heart felt. Everything.
Something had to give.
“So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”” Genesis 6:7
And this is where this story begins.
In the dark.
And if this stormy dark was all there was, our human story would have ended here.
But the darkness wasn’t all there was.
‘But Noah..…’ Genesis 6:8a
‘But Noah…’ his name lights like a candle in the night, burning bright in all the thickening dark. Violence, corruption, sorrow and death were not the only lines laid out. The song lines remained ‘But Noah…’ The storyline of grace.
‘But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.’ Genesis 6:8 NIV
‘But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.’ Genesis 6:8 NKJV
One man, one family found favour, found grace. This small unassuming verse, with the tiny five letter word: grace. The undeserved favour of God. It’s the first time this word grace is used in the Bible. Grace; this small word, it has so much weight, weight enough to set a broken world to right, weight enough to birth a brand new beginning, a renewed creation.
In verse six we hear the first mention of God’s grief, and in verse eight the first mention of His grace. God turns His grief to grace and doesn’t completely give up on humankind.
‘But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord’, Noah found grace, he didn’t invent it, work for it or earn it. He found it, found it in loving God, found it in calling on God’s name, found it in God’s eyes, found it in God’s heart.
Noah found grace in God’s heart because Noah was living in the lineage of grace, the family lines laid out that ‘called on the name of the Lord’ and walked faithfully with Him.
‘This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.’ Genesis 6:9
Noah became the sole hope of the new human family line, the sole hope for the existence of all true humankind. One man. One God. One partnership to restore a breaking world.
“So God said to Noah…” Genesis 6:13
So God said… Noah heard God’s voice in that moment because he was living a listening lifestyle in all moments. This closeness of God and closeness with God looks like a lifestyle of listening, a habit of hearing, a walk of trust and a practice of partnering with God in every large and small moment of life.
“So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” Genesis 6:13
Because Noah was listening, God confided in him His grief over humankind. And He confides in Noah His plan to make things right…
‘So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.’ Genesis 6:14-16
And nowhere in these plans does God say “build a rudder”, “make a steering wheel”, “create a compass”. Noah knew he was never the captain of this ship, nor the navigator. He was always God’s partner in this rescue plan, but it was always God’s work, God’s plan, His Heavenly Father’s business. God was the captain at the helm of this project and Noah, like a good naval officer simply followed orders. Noah’s rudder was faith, his steering wheel, trust.
And Noah must have looked like a crazy person building that ark, right there under a clear blue sky stretching out over bone dry land. But he did it anyway, plodding on in unquestioning obedience, living in a reality named only by the voice of God: The tangible, unseen, perceptible reality of faith…
‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see…
…By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.’
Hebrews 11:1 and 7a
Noah trusted God completely, even as God was about to place he and his family into an ark in the middle of a raging storm.
This whole story of Noah and the flood, it is not the story of an end, it is actually the story of a new beginning. A story of God coming into the complex messy reality of human brokenness and darkness and finding a way to hope, finding a way to fan the last flickering flame of His Imago Dei left alive in the human race. In Noah. A story of God, not willing to give up fully on true humanity.
How does God’s heart so full of love, so full of goodness, witness all this breaking, broken sadness that has become His children’s reality, and not break also? His heart does break.
But His father’s heart also hopes. That we will reach for Him, so that we will become ourselves. Human. Imago Dei.
This whole aching story of the flood was never about an end, but was always about a new beginning, a renewed creation, a salvaged human story; a story washed clean of flooding violence, as love and justice collide in time to renew a broken world. A story of God partnering with a human being made in His image to salvage His Creation from the dark.
Together.
Journey Further
“Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.”
Psalm 36:5-7
God isn’t faithful to the fantasies we have in our head, the ideas we have about how life ‘should’ be, or who we think we are or want to be. He’s faithful to us. The real us. The Image of God within us. Who we truly are.
Sit with this idea for a moment. What does it mean for you? What does it look like for you to trust God’s love and faithfulness?
References, Notes and Credits
1 Kerry Lotzof ‘Are we really made of stardust?’, Natural History Museum UK, http://www.nhm.ac.uk
2 John H. Walton, ‘The NIV Application Commentary: Genesis’ Zondervan, 2001
3 STRONGS H6087: † I. [עָצַב] verb hurt, pain, grieve (Late Hebrew Nithp. and in derivatives; עֲצַב be in pain (rare)
4 Genesis 4:26b
5 Acts 17:26-28, Philippians 4:5, Deuteronomy 4:7
Thank you Liz. A creative piece for our contemplation and meditation. You have blessed s with God’s heart for His creation. Thank you.
Hello Laurie, thanks so much for your fellowship
As I read this meditation, I was reminded of the words in Malachi 4:2
“But you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings/rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.”
That reminded me what Jesus said about God causing his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and his rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous.
His unfailing love and light of life is always available and active for everyone. Not everyone, however, chooses to enjoy the benefit of his goodness and love and grace.
Those who choose to live in the shelter of the Most High and in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1), who choose to revere His name, choose His love and embrace the image of God deep within themselves, choose to breathe His BREATH, His light of life within them, and find His grace,
They are the ones who will revel and frolic in His healing in their lives, in His unfailing love. They are the ones who will feast on the abundance of His house and drink from His rivers of delight.
Thank you for reminding me that Noah found grace when he loved God, called on God’s name, looked for God, sought God’s heart in relationship with him, listened to God’s voice, and walked faithfully with Him.
Thank you for reminding me tgat Noah’s rudder was faith, and his steering wheel was trust. That he
trusted God completely, even as God was about to place him and his family into an ark in the middle of a raging storm.
I needed reminding that God’s healing light is at work in my family at the moment. I received God’s encouragement that He is shining on the brokenness, raining on the scarcity. He is rising with healing and blessing in his wings.
Dear Ann, I love the scriptures you shared and the reflections you’ve brought. “But you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings/rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.” They really blessed me. He is indeed ‘ rising with healing and blessing in his wings.’.