The DoveSample

Re-Creation

We know the story: amidst a faithless, corrupt generation, there remained one faithful, righteous man. Noah and his family – and the animals, two-by-two – were spared from the flood of God's judgement.

God had given the command again to let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear. Land and sky were separated, vegetation was restored; it was nearly time for the animals and the people to come out onto dry ground again.

To test if it was time, Noah sent out – you knew it – a dove, which flew over the waters, back and forth. As the wind had been blowing over the water, now a bird flittered over it, and when it returned with evidence that it had found perch, Noah knew it was time.

Out of the ark, they disembark: with worship and wonder, and God, as he did with Adam and Eve, reiterated a mission for his new creation: go and be fruitful, rule and reign.

Can you see the parallel? There is an act of un-creation as the chaos waters are loosed on the earth, then, there is an act of re-creation, as a wind blows and a dove hovers over the waters.

And this time, God makes a Covenant: I will put a rainbow in the sky as an everlasting sign, ‘never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood’.

Covenant symbols are usually more gruesome as they depict the cost of the covenant (rams rent in two and circumcision in the Abrahamic Covenants, animal sacrifice in the Mosaic Covenant through the Law), and the Noahic Covenant seems an altogether more peaceful symbol. Or is it? Hold that thought.

This is usually where we end the story for Kids Church. The adult reader, however, needs to carry on and read the first thing Noah does: he plants a vineyard and gets drunk. We then have a problematic scene in a tent, which theologians debate, but all agree is not good.

From the chaos of the waters, God creates. Following creation comes a human-mission.

But what is good too-quickly goes bad. This Eden-like hope is quickly dashed as sin again enters the world, and the cycle tragically begins all over again.

It begs the question, how on earth can God put this right in a way which will last?

Do you know the feeling, where you are in a good place and all is well, but all too soon, sin enters the scene again? Where we mess up, or get caught in another's mess, and feel the sting of sin.

Why not say sorry to God today for your part in any sin, deliberate or not, and repair that relationship. Thank God that, as he didn’t give up in Eden or with Noah, he hasn’t given up on you either.