This sheet on Genesis 6 was written by Liel Leibovitz for 929 and can also be found here
“The difference between depression and disappointment,” the comedian Marc Maron once observed, “is your level of commitment.”
God knows all about it.
Here he is, looking at his wayward creations and contemplating a big decision: Is he just a touch unhappy? Or is he thoroughly pissed?
The Bible gives us few clues concerning the Almighty’s emotional wellbeing. "And the LORD regretted that He had made man on earth," we are told (6:6) "and His heart was saddened."
A sad Lord doesn’t pour himself a glass of pinot noir or pop open a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. A sad Lord prepares to smite. He looks at all of us frolicking senselessly about and imagines how peaceful the world would be if we would all just, well, disappear.
You may think this is God at his most majestically divine, haughtily contemplating the destruction of all of his creation just because he can. But, really, what we have here is God at his most profoundly human, feeling that inky black blues so many of us feel when the world falls short of our expectations.
Who among us hasn’t felt the same desperate urge? When our politicians fall short of our rosiest predictions, we’re tempted to dismiss them all as crooked creeps. When our favorite musicians release works that fail to move us, we swear it’s the last time we’ll pay for a ticket to one of their concerts. When friends falter and flake and flitter, we sulk and skulk away. Like children, we pout and declare that if the world doesn’t rise to the level of our game, we’re taking our ball and going home.
Thankfully, God knows better. He understands that the true meaning of Marc Maron’s quip isn’t what it first seems: If you’ve truly got skin in the game, you can’t afford to get depressed, only disappointed. If you really care, you must find some way to move forward and make it right.
And how does God choose to redeem the world from a watery end? There’s another lesson for us here: He focuses on Noah. On one man. As long as one man alone in the entire broken world is decent, God knows, despair isn’t an option. As long as one man among all of mankind is righteous, there’s more than enough material for a fresh start, for a new beginning, for another shot at creation. Amen to that.
Liel Leibovitz is a senior writer for Tablet Magazine and a co-host of its podcast, Unorthodox.
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