Parental Pain and Mercy

TODAY'S READING: Gen. 6, 7, 8; Luke 3

SCRIPTURE: Gen. 6:5-8 (emphasis added)
⁵ The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. ⁷ So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

OBSERVATION: God is love. We are told this over and over again in the Word. Yet here God says he is grieved that he has made man because of all the evil in their hearts and actions. God is described as having a broken heart. He was a Father who loved his children deeply and yet was filled with grief as he saw the suffering they brought on themselves and others because of their refusal to listen to and obey him. As a parent, I can understand this. It is possible to love your children with all your heart and yet be so grieved by their actions that you think it would have been better if they had never been born. That extremity of emotion does not mean you stop loving them. In fact, someone you don't love deeply has very little power to hurt you. I think of the parents of the young man who shot Congresswoman Gabby Giffords nearly killing her and killing nine other innocent bystanders. His parents are suffering the worst kind of pain. They love their child but realize that he has irreparably harmed others by murdering their loved ones. How does one handle that? I think it is perfectly logical that even with all the love they feel for their son that they would think it better if he had never been born. The two emotions are not inconsistent with one another. In this example, God searches for anyone who hasn't gone completely "dark" inside. He finds Noah. Though Noah wasn't perfect, he still had a heart that honored God and desired to obey him. God has mercy on him and finds a way to save even one family on the earth while having to destroy the rest before the world was completely destroyed by wickedness.

APPLICATION: It is a comfort to me that God has experienced what it is like to love and lose those you love. He is able to comfort the brokenhearted in ways no one else can because he understands completely what it is like to have a heart full of pain. From him, I can not only receive comfort when I have a broken heart but I can learn mercy and forgiveness, and when it is time to cut off relationships. He did all of that and it compromised neither his love nor his mercy.

PRAYER: Father, you understand the times when I am brokenhearted. I am so imperfect. Teach me how to respond in each situation. My I be full of love and forgiveness while still having discernment as to when it is time to cease fellowship with those who have rejected you or who would cause me to compromise my commitment to you in any way. I also thank you that you have the power to speak to the heart of any profligate person and to bring back and heal the prodigal. Heal your people, Lord. Heal me. In Jesus' Name, Amen.