Youth Group Devotionals

God has just blessed Noah and his sons.He has renewed humanity’s calling, made a covenant with every living creature, and placed the rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise.Then Noah speaks a curse.The story begins when Noah plants a vineyard, drinks some of its wine, and lies uncovered inside his tent.But the passage does not spend much time condemning Noah for becoming drunk. Its attention quickly turns toward what happens within his family.Ham sees his father uncovered and tells his brothers.Shem and Japheth respond differently. They walk backward into the tent and cover Noah without looking at him. They protect their father’s dignity instead of adding to his shame.Genesis does not explain everything Ham did or why it was considered so serious. We should be careful not to claim more than the passage tells us.What is clear is what Noah does next.When Noah learns what happened, he does not curse Ham.He curses Canaan, Ham’s son.Canaan is Noah’s grandson, and the story has not described him doing anything to Noah.That makes the curse feel strangely misplaced.Ham acted, but Canaan receives the curse.God had blessed Noah and all three of his sons. Now Noah takes it upon himself to pronounce suffering and servitude over the next generation.These are Noah’s words.Genesis never says that God commanded the curse or spoke it through Noah.This sounds uncomfortably similar to what we have already seen.Cain harms Abel.Lamech boasts that he will repay an injury with overwhelming vengeance.Human beings are hurt, and then they respond by spreading that hurt farther.The flood removed a violent generation from the earth, but it did not remove vengeance from the human heart.Noah was faithful.Noah walked with God.Noah obeyed when God told him to build the ark.But Noah was still capable of using his words to direct the consequences of one person’s actions toward someone else.The flood story began with God grieving over human violence.It ends with one family already divided by shame, anger, and a curse.Creation has begun again, but humanity’s deepest problem remains.Noah survived the flood, but the desire to answer hurt with vengeance survived with him.

As the floodwaters disappear, the story begins to sound familiar.In Genesis 1, water covers the earth. God causes dry ground to appear, fills the world with living creatures, and tells humanity to be fruitful and multiply.Now water has covered the earth again.The waters recede.Dry ground appears.People and animals come out onto the land.God tells Noah and his family to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.It is almost as though creation is beginning again.Before Noah leaves the ark, he waits for God’s direction. He sends out a raven and then a dove to see whether the ground is dry. Eventually, the dove returns carrying an olive leaf.Even after Noah can see that the water is gone, he remains inside until God tells him:“Come out of the ark.”The God who told Noah when to enter the ark now tells him when to leave.When Noah steps onto dry ground, the first thing he does is build an altar and offer a sacrifice. He recognizes that he is standing there because God rescued him.God then blesses Noah and his sons and gives them many of the responsibilities humanity received in Genesis 1.Be fruitful.Multiply.Fill the earth.God also reminds them that human beings are made in His image. Even after the violence that filled the earth, human life still carries the dignity God gave it at creation.Then God makes a covenant with Noah.A covenant was more than a casual promise. It created a serious, binding relationship between those involved.God makes this covenant with Noah, his descendants, and every living creature. He promises never again to destroy the earth with a flood.Then He gives them a sign:The rainbow.The rainbow is a visible reminder that God has bound Himself to the future of His creation.God has judged the violence that filled the earth, but He has not abandoned the world He made. He brings people and animals safely through the waters, places them back on dry ground, renews humanity’s calling, and promises to remain committed to creation.Humanity’s violence brought judgment upon the earth, but God preserved life and bound Himself to the creation He made.

The flood is one of the most familiar stories in the Bible.We put Noah’s ark on nursery walls. We make toys with pairs of animals. We draw rainbows above a little wooden boat.But the actual story is difficult.The flood is an act of judgment.The earth has become filled with violence, and God refuses to allow that violence to continue forever.That may make us uncomfortable, but a God who never responds to evil would not really be good.If God saw people being abused, oppressed, and killed and simply said, “It does not matter,” that would not be mercy.It would be indifference.The flood tells us that evil matters to God.But judgment is not the only thing happening.There is also an ark.God tells Noah to bring his family and the animals inside. In the middle of judgment, God provides a place of rescue.Then the rain begins.The waters rise.The world that had been filled with violence disappears beneath them.For 150 days, the waters cover the earth.Then Genesis 8 begins with an important sentence:“But God remembered Noah.”That does not mean God had forgotten Noah and suddenly remembered that he was floating around in an ark.In the Bible, when God “remembers,” it often means He is about to act on a promise or commitment.God turns His attention toward Noah.He sends a wind over the earth.The waters begin to recede.Judgment is real.But judgment does not get the final word.God has not forgotten Noah.He has not forgotten the animals.He has not forgotten the creation He called good.The ark holds judgment and mercy together.God takes evil seriously enough to confront it, but He remains committed to preserving life and beginning again.We often want God to be either just or merciful.Genesis shows us that He is both.He does not ignore what humanity has done.But He also does not abandon the world He made.God’s judgment shows that evil matters, and His mercy shows that He has not given up on His creation.

Genesis 4 ended with two different pictures of humanity.Lamech bragged about violence and revenge.But other people began calling on the name of the Lord.By Genesis 6, the violence has continued to grow.Genesis tells us that human wickedness had become great and that the thoughts of the human heart were continually turned toward evil.What began with eating fruit in the garden has spread into the entire human story.Adam and Eve distrusted God.Cain killed Abel.Lamech celebrated revenge.Now the earth is filled with violence.Sin never stays in one place.It moves from our hearts into our choices.From our choices into our relationships.From our relationships into families, communities, and entire cultures.Genesis 6 also tells us how God responds.God is grieved.That is important because we can sometimes imagine God looking down on human sin with nothing but anger.But Genesis describes something deeper.God sees the world He created for beauty, relationship, and life becoming filled with corruption and violence.And it breaks His heart.When Genesis says that God regretted making humanity, it does not mean that God suddenly realized He had made a mistake or that He did not know this could happen.It describes His grief over what humanity has done with the life and freedom He gave them.God cares about what is happening on the earth.He cares about violence.He cares about injustice.He cares about the ways people created in His image are hurting one another.Because God loves His creation, He refuses to pretend that evil does not matter.That means judgment is coming.But Genesis 6 does not end with judgment.It ends by telling us:“Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”Even when sin has spread throughout the world, God has not given up on the world.He begins looking for someone willing to trust Him.Someone through whom He can preserve life.Someone who will work with Him as He begins the story again.Humanity has become unfaithful.But God remains committed to what He created.Sin has filled the earth, but God is already making a way to rescue it.

Cain ignores God’s warning.He takes Abel into a field and kills him.The distrust of Genesis 3 has now become the violence of Genesis 4. Sin has spread from humanity’s broken relationship with God into the relationship between two brothers.Then God asks Cain:“Where is your brother Abel?”That question should sound familiar.God asked Adam, “Where are you?”Now He asks Cain, “Where is your brother?”Once again, God already knows the answer. He is giving Cain an opportunity to tell the truth and accept responsibility.Instead, Cain says:“I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”Cain has taken his brother’s life, but now he acts as though his brother’s life was never his responsibility.We still ask versions of Cain’s question.Am I responsible for the person being excluded?Is it my problem if everyone is making fun of someone?Do I need to say something when a friend is making destructive choices?Why should someone else’s pain concern me?The rest of Scripture gives a pretty clear answer.Yes, we are our brother’s keeper.That does not mean we can control every choice another person makes. It means we are called to care about what happens to people. We cannot claim to love God while treating people made in His image as though their lives do not matter.God tells Cain that Abel’s blood is crying out from the ground.Cain tried to hide what he had done, but Abel’s life mattered to God.Throughout Scripture, God hears the cries of people who have been mistreated, forgotten, or oppressed. Their suffering may be ignored by everyone else, but it is never invisible to Him.Cain thought he could take Abel into an empty field where no one would see.But there is nowhere another person’s suffering becomes invisible to God.God’s question is not only “Where are you?” It is also “Where is your brother?”