I have written and preached a lot about Free Will and how it is diametrically opposed to the idea that God is in control of everything. Today, in the spirit of my last two thoughts about Genesis 1 & 2, I thought I would jump ahead to Genesis 5 & 6 to show that, while God might make plans, they are often broken up by human behavior and intervention. This happens all through Scripture – in fact, Cain murdering his brother Abel is the first time it happens in Genesis. I think that this story, however, is a far better example of how the “God has an exact plan for my life” idea falls apart.
In Genesis 5 we have the genealogy of Adam and Eve, ending with Noah and his three sons. This is foreshadowing. Chapter 6 starts like this: “When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose.” While it isn’t clear who the “sons” of God were, they were different from human men, and the production of children with human women created what verse 4 calls “heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.” They are called Nephilim (giants, fallen ones). How this is connected to the next verses isn’t clear, but things go really wrong on earth; people were wicked, and the earth was corrupt and filled with violence (v. 11), so God decided to wipe all the people out with a flood. This is where Noah and his family come in; they are the only good people on earth worth saving. In fact, it seems that Noah has a conversational relationship with God, and God tells him to build an ark and take either 1 or 7 pair of every animal on the ark with him (a logistical impossibility, in my mind). Enough food to feed all of them as well; this wasn’t going to be a three-hour tour. The rain fell for 40 days and nights (in biblical terms, “a long time”), and the waters swelled for 150 days. Noah et al were the only humans left.
Whether you want to buy this story or not, the point for me today is that while God might make plans, people don’t have to follow them. God wanted humanity to live in and care for the garden; they disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit. God wanted Cain and Abel to get along; Abel ended up dead. God wants humanity to live in peace; God’s own angels/children (the sons of God) conspired with humanity and brought about corruption to the earth. We are not robots; we have free will, and that free will can bring blessings or curses. We aren’t in control of everything; our biology and the fact that there are 7 billion other people with free will too, impact our lives. But in our personal choices, we have a lot to say. Don’t believe the lies that God brings pain and suffering into our lives; we aren’t fated or doomed to suffer. Give your free will a chance and change the world for the better. That is God’s plan.
Prayer – Help us, O God, to make better decisions so the world can be less corrupt. Amen.
Today’s art is a statue that is believed to be of Nephilim from ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq).