A Look At Broken Culture (Introduction)

Genesis 6:5-8

I originally wrote this devotion a year ago. There were a lot of tensions, and I began typing away to get my thoughts out. Then, I decided to let those thoughts cool down. Where there is a lot of what I originally said in this, I'm not going to present it with quite the same tone. American culture is just as broken in 2023 as it was in 2022, 2021, and every other year I have been alive (I can only speak for those). The further we drift from God, the worse it will get. That is what I want to address through this series.

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“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”

Genesis 6:5-8

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Have you ever heard someone justify a behavior as "That's my culture"? That is such a terrible excuse for bad behavior, but in our modern climate, to claim something as culture is to place it off limits from scrutiny. There is a mindset in America today that to challenge, or even worse, condemn someone else's culture, makes a person scum. They are some kind of irredeemable reprobate that should be forced into exile. This idea is completely unBiblical.

In our passage today, God Himself condemns culture. Man's culture is broken, and God has had enough. So, if you are familiar with this part of the Bible, God is about to destroy man with his culture. Then, God will have man start again, and expect culture to change with man. If only that is how it had played out. Sadly, the culture of sin took root very quickly after the flood.

Think about what this passage says, "and He was grieved in His heart". The God who formed man with His hands, and breathed into man's nostrils and made him a living soul was grieved that He had made this man. Why? The second generation committed the first murder. Then later generations would also commit murder. Rape, incest, idol worship, drunkenness, and every imaginable sin was taking place by chapter 6. Man did not resemble what God had made him when He placed man in the Garden. Sin had totally marred God's creation. When God's standard no longer governed man, at least in his mind, then there was no limit to the depths of depravity that he would sink. The weight of sin only pulls man further down into that depravity. It will never lift him up closer to God. The only hope was redemption. That could only come through God's plan of salvation. In Genesis 6-8, that was pictured in the ark. The old man, with his culture had to die, and man had to become a new creature.

In the coming devotions, I will address some of the cultural ills that plague America. As you will see, there are many that culture is fighting rabidly for today. If you try to engage in that fight you will get bit. That's ok though. We need to stand, even if we get bit because people are clinging to lies and lives are being destroyed. If we do get bit, may we say with the Apostle Paul, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).

Father, You desire to see Your creation redeemed. One day that will happen when this world is purged with fire. Until then, help us to redeem this world one soul at a time through the saving power of Jesus's blood and Your Holy Word. Help us to stand firm like Noah in a world that hates us and often does not listen.