Culture From God's Perspective?
In the Book of Beginnings, we find a moment where God, The Creator, experiences a moment of reflection. The word, reflection, has two useful meanings if one is to understand the heart and mind of the Father. First, it refers to a thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a result of meditation. Now and then we should take the time to review the circumstances in our lives. It is possible that reflection can make us conscious of things that have been missed, overlooked, or ignored. The benefit of reflection is that it demands our consciousness. We must be in the moment—evaluating past situations while pondering things to come. Next, reflection can be experienced as a result of the consideration of some subject, matter, or purpose. This is important because everything God created He created with purpose in mind. We must be reminded that wherever there is purpose there will always be expectation.
Genesis 6:6, 7 reveals a time when God is reflecting on His creation of mankind.
“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. The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain.”
Here the heart of God is filled with pain because the men and women have disregarded His expectations of them. The people of the day have rejected God’s original plan for creating them. The Lord ponders the reality that man’s wickedness on the earth is to do evil all the time. God created them, men and women, to represent His presence in the earth. Nothing else was created in the image and likeness of the Creator. God had a specific purpose for creating mankind. Men and women were always meant to live their lives in ways that brought glory to their Creator. When God created the man, Adam, He responded by affirming His creation as “very good.”
Be reminded that God created the man and placed in the Garden of Eden. Eden was a specific place God chose for the man because it represented Him in every way. The Garden of Eden reflected the culture of Heaven. Unfortunately the man and woman compromised their relationship with their Creator and were removed from the Garden altogether. It was sin that caused this dramatic change in circumstances. Everything had changed, and nothing would ever be the same. The first man and the first woman now experienced what it is like to be separated from their Creator. They no longer enjoyed His covering over their lives. They no longer could walk and talk with God on a daily basis. They had no consciousness of what they had done, and the consequences they would face as a result of their decisions.
What kind of culture can mankind establish apart from the influence of their Creator? What happens when men and women forget the Father’s expectations and His purpose for creating them? How far from God’s plan can sin’s drive mankind away from the Creator? This question is answered for us! After much reflection, the time comes when the Lord determines that man has gone to far.
Simply put, mankind has missed the mark to the point of no return. Verse 7 reveals the decision of the Creator: “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.” The heart of God is that every man and woman would realize that His expectation of them has not changed. God has not changed His mind! When God created them, “He blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God’s plan was for the man and the woman to perpetuate His culture on the earth. God has not changed His mind!