Grief In the Garden

Rainbows and Butterflies

The Book of Genesis records the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth. Death was not part of his Creation. He created us to live.

In the early chapters we see the first human death, after sin enters the world. It is a murder. Cain killed his brother, Abel. Adam and Eve grieved over the loss of a son.

Not too far into the Book of Genesis we encounter Noah. We know the story.

Something that I have just begun to think about is the grief that Noah and his family must have experienced. Think about it. On that ark was the only human and animal life in the world, apart from the marine life.

Noah and his wife probably had family which extended beyond their three sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth and their wives. Certainly their wives had family. They had people they were associated with. Noah preached. All of these people perished in the flood. Except for the 8 of them there was no human life left when they came out of the ark.

The symbol of hope, the sign of the covenant the LORD God made with the earth was the rainbow in the sky. Genesis 9

In their grief God gave hope. He gave them a sign that comes when there is a storm and when the sun begins to shine again.

The theme of this piece is rainbows. The beauty of God coming through in the storm of sorrow. This is not by any means an attempt to minimize the storm but to try and trace God's Hand in it. If that is impossible at this point, we can fall back on the truth in the words of Spurgeon, "When you cannot trace His Hand, you can always trust His Heart.