His ways are not our ways

I am starting another "read your Bible through in a year" plan.  I am in Genesis right now.  As I was reading the account of the flood, it really made me stop and think.  God was so distressed over the evil he saw in the world, that he saw no other option but to destroy the planet...not just the people, but the whole system, except for 8 people.  I wonder what he is thinking as he looks down at the evil going on right now?

Then I thought more about the character of God.  He chose not to destroy the earth completely.  He sent a rainbow to assure us that he will never change his mind and just give up.  Then He gave us an unexplainable gift.  A gift he had planned all along, knowing before-hand what the world and its inhabitants were like and what we would do with the gift; he sent Jesus as our substitute.

And Jesus was not just a tool in God's hand.  Jesus was in on the plan, designing and working out the details all along.  Jesus knew the heart of man; our depth of love as well as the depravity of our hearts.  He knew we wouldn't understand his gift.  We would reject him over and over.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I know I couldn't do it.  I would look around and say, "No way, man!"  It is not worth it.  The benefits don't outweigh the risks.  I would walk away, leave the sinners in the sin, and start over.

But God is not man.  Jesus became a man, but he is still God.  He sees us, and somehow, he thinks we ARE worth it.  He finds something of value in our wayward hearts.  He knows we don't fully understand, and he has hope (well, maybe for an omniscient being hope is not the right word) that we will "get it" at some point and that with our free will we will choose him.  We will accept the gift.  We will love as we are loved.

I am so glad that God is God.